Read About Abacus' Hydro-therapy!

UPDATE JANUARY 8, 2003:  Abacus has been adopted by a great family and is now in his forever home!  He loves running around his yard in his K-9 cart and is so happy he found that special family to spoil him.

Update: Sweet Abacus resting in his bed!

Water Therapy

We found him a comfortable place to rest and soon gave him a "home" at Pitts Veterinary Hospital. It didn't take long to fall in love with his personality or his desire to live. It also didn't take long to figure out that if we were going to keep him that we needed to get him a K-9 Cart (a doggie wheelchair)...so we put a jar on the front desk with his story and raised enough money to get him one in just under two weeks! We all pitched in on his daily care as much as possible, but when you are a seven doctor hospital and the largest in the city, you stay very busy! We all put our heads together to come up with ideas for his care and one of the staff hauled in a stock tank and we began water therapy to try to strengthen his hind limbs. One of our doctors even allotted out time on our schedule three times a week to do acupuncture therapy with Abacus.

We would take turns doing a trial and error method of keeping diapers, pads, depends...you name it...we tried all brands!...on a six month old puppy. Along with his hind limb paralysis, he also had questionable control over urination and defecation. It was hard to assess this completely as he was growing up in a veterinary clinic and had not been housetrained properly. It also didn't take long to see that he had no puppy manners at all and this did not make him a good candidate for adoption. So I and another co-worker started taking him to puppy classes. He did very well and proved to be a very smart boy! We worked with him in and out of his cart. This was a challenge, but I will say, it can be done! He knows all of the basics...except of course, "sit". He is, overall, a normal dog...he does not know that there is anything wrong with him. However, after months of trying to find him a home unsuccessfully, we decided to contact no-kill shelters in hopes that they could give him a better life and more attention than we could at the clinic. We also felt he had a better chance of being adopted at a shelter. We contacted many no-kill shelters to see if they were willing to work with Abacus.

Everyone cried and said good-bye

We found one that met our criteria and were willing to take Abacus. So, the first week end in October, everyone said good bye to Abacus and cried when he left...and off he went to Animal Lifeline of Iowa, near Carlisle, Iowa. I and the office manager loaded Abacus, his supplies and his doggie wheelchair and began the four hour trip to Avondale Animal Hospital, Animal Lifeline's Veterinarian. In route we stopped by PetCo and bought a number of toys and bones to keep this bundle of energy busy! He did very well on the trip, looked out the windows for hours and said "Hello" to everyone that passed us on the Interstate.

He instills in people the true and purest definition of "unconditional love"

Soon we were at Avondale Animal Hospital and it was time for us to say good bye. I went back with him to his cage and said my good byes to a dog that has become almost like my own. I knew Animal Lifeline would soon pick up Abacus and transport him to the extra large pen they were preparing for him. We then went to Animal Lifeline's Shelter to see where Abacus would be staying and met the staff at the Shelter. Even now, weeks later....and I am sure for the rest of my life...I will think of him and wish I had the means and time to take care of him, but I know I couldn't give him the life I know he deserves. I believe he was given a second chance for a reason. We never doubted that his quality of life was as good as any other dog's. He is happy just being near anyone who will extend a gentle loving hand to him. I will never forget the experiences he has given me and I will never forget the impact he has had on my life personally. Just being around him gives you a new outlook on life...he instills in people the true and purest definition of "unconditional love".
Shannon Abruzzo, LVT

A postscript from Animal Lifeline:

Abacus literally smiles at you!

Shannon was so right with her assessment of Abacus' personality and temperament. I must say, in over 13 years of doing rescue work and after working with over 1300 dogs....Abacus has one of the best personalities I have ever seen! He literally smiles at you...he is so happy and wants only contact with a kind human to make his day! What a sweetie....when we put him in his doggie wheelchair he takes off running with that big smile on his face...it brings tears to your eyes to watch him enjoy running and playing! We are very happy that we were able to bring Abacus to Animal Lifeline and continue his rehabilitation therapy. We are currently checking into continuing his acupuncture treatments. We would also like to be able to continue his water therapy treatments, but do not have a way to do that without a whirlpool tub. We are starting a fund to purchase a whirlpool tub. This is something we do need here at the Shelter as we do a lot of physical therapy for many of our animals.

Thank you Pitts Veterinary Hospital

Meanwhile, all of our volunteers are thoroughly enjoying caring for Abacus and we are very grateful to Pitts Veterinary Hospital for all of the time they spent caring for him and the wonderful treatment they gave him. We hope to find Abacus the loving forever home he deserves. Please call or email us to get more information on adopting Abacus. If you are unable to adopt him perhaps you can contribute to the fund we have started to get a whirlpool tub so that we can continue his water therapy.

The Animal Lifeline Staff