Meet Melvin

Before I blog about my text baking attempt (which will be chicken liver jerky later this afternoon. yum), I wanted to let you all get to know Melvin.  I adopted Melvin from Tallahassee Animal Aid on January 14, 2010.  When I adopted him, I was told he was around 1-2 years old, but over the past 14 months, he's been turning white, so I'm quite certain that he's at least 5, if not older (or just turning white prematurely).  For the first 6 months I had Melvin, we had to overcome some health hurdles.  First, he was at animal aid because he was found on the side of a highway, only 4 lbs and paralyzed.  The vet refers to him as "the miracle dog" because no one expected him to live.  But after 3 months at the vet, he gained 4 more pounds and everything was looking good.  He was still having problems walking for months after I brought him home, and he still has a slight limp, but he is a million times better than what he was. 

Here's our first picture together:

He was also heartworm positive.  After being on heartworm preventative for a few months, he received his first Immiticide shot, which is basically a shot of arsenic that breaks up heartworms.  During the treatment, which takes 3 months from start to finish, Melvin couldn't get his heart rate up for fear that a piece of a heartworm would travel to his heart and cause it to stop.  He only was allowed outside to potty without any long walks.  I had to carry him up and down stairs because he couldn't do it.  A month after the first Immiticide shot, he went into the vet to get two more.  When given the second of three shots, he immediately went into anaphylactic shock and had to be intubated.  Obviously the vet decided not to give Melvin the third shot and just continue with heartworm preventative.  Because he wasn't able to finish the treatment, it took almost a year to completely rid Melvin of heartworms, but he's completely healthy now!

Because of his hyperactive immune system, the vet refuses to put Melvin under anesthesia since he may have a reaction and not wake up.  So Melvin isn't neutered.  I'm one of those bad people.  I promise, if I could neuter him, I would.

Melvin and I have had an awesome 14 months and hopefully many more! He's definitely a spoiled dog, but it's so hard not to spoil such a sweet and cute boy!