Jasper: A Heart Story
Jasper arrived at Project POOCH on June 10. The first thing to notice about Jasper was his extreme thinness. Jasper is a 6-year-old German Shepherd, and with his build, he should be about 85–90lbs. When we got him on the scale back at the kennel, he weighed in at 71lbs. While he was scared of a lot of things, he was very hungry, so we were able to easily move him around from place to place with a food lure.
After we got past his thinness, the next thing you noticed was that Jasper’s neck fur was all rubbed away. Likely from being chained in a backyard. This boy had only ever known yard living, so being inside was an entirely new concept, as was bedding, and toys. When someone approached his kennel, he immediately “pancked” (flattening himself on the floor), as though in preparation of something bad happening to him. The youth sprang into action to help him getting comfortable and build his confidence.
One of our youth came up with his own way of trying to help Jasper understand that we were here to help him. Whenever he approached him or his kennel, he said, "All good things come from love," and gave him treats.
The youth gave him time, space, and love. And Jasper learned to trust. He started to feel safe. Around week 3 with us, he picked up a toy and started to play. Prior to that he had shown no interest in any of the toys we had given him. The beauty of this moment was not lost on those who witnessed it. Mr. Jasper was feeling comfortable and safe enough to be a dog and play. It warmed all of our hearts (there might have been tears).
Within the first few days of being at Project POOCH we get our dogs to the vet for a complete health check up and vaccines. Jasper had also come to us un-neutered so we needed to get his surgery scheduled. Unfortunately, what we found on a routine blood test was that Jasper was positive for heart worms. This was a difficult blow to be dealt as the treatment is long, and costly. Thankfully, Jasper was not showing symptoms, which gave us a lot of hope that the treatment would be successful.
When Project POOCH took Jasper, we committed to him, in sickness and in health. We hadn’t encountered a heart worm positive dog before (it’s really uncommon in Oregon), so we got a treatment plan from the vet, and scheduled his first treatment for later that week. We also learned that due to the heart worms, we would have to delay neutering him until he was fully healthy, as we couldn’t anesthetize a dog with heart worms as it would be way too risky.
Heart worm treatment involves administration of a heartworm preventive and a 30-day course of Doxycycline. At Day 30 you give another dose of heartworm preventive. At Day 60 you give another dose of heartworm preventive, then give the first injection of melarsomine, along with prednisone. At Day 90 you give another dose of heartworm preventive, and the second injection of melarsomine. At Day 91 you give the third injection of melarsomine, along with prednisone. At day 120 you test for microfilariae and hope that the heartworms have been cleared.
During this treatment, the dog also has to be on exercise restriction. If the dog is symptomatic, the restriction has to be significant. Thankfully, Jasper was showing no signs of symptoms, so we were able to go with light restrictions. We could still take him on walks, just shorter walks, and make sure our play sessions were short.
We did know that finding Jasper a home as soon as possible was critical. We wanted him in a home before he needed his first injection at Day 60. We were elated when we received an application for Jasper from a family that had previously had two rescue German Shepherds. They loved and were familiar with the breed. It felt like fate that they had learned of Jasper and his plight.
The family came for a Meet & Greet at MacLaren on July 14 and immediately fell in love with this gentle giant. The youth handlers, who adore Jasper, did a fantastic job of sharing insights about Jasper’s likes, dislikes, and needs with the family. We decided to schedule a weekend visit, and the next day took Jasper for a three day stay with his potential new family. They decided they wanted to adopt him, but due to prior commitments, they couldn’t take him until July 28. He came back to the kennel on July 18, but after just a few days without him they felt like they just couldn’t live without him so they came to get him on July 22. Jasper is off to live his best life with an amazing family, and we are all hopeful that the heart treatment will be successful and he will have a long life ahead.
POOCH is committed to Jasper’ medical care for his heart worm treatment and neuter as soon as he is well enough. The cost of this care is expected to be appx. $2,200. If you would like to contribute to Jasper’s medical fund, you can do so by clicking the link below.