Incontinence, socializing, and Petsmart

When we got Kira, she was a drippy pee-pee faucet. At her first visit to the vet, the vet thought he saw some increased numbers of something or other wanted to try her on some antibiotics to see if the leaking was somehow related to an infection. Whether she had an infection or not, it wasn't the cause of the incontinence, in fact, Friday night she pretty much flooded the hall due to whatever it is. And let me say this, this girl is house trained, she does not like to pee in the house or sit in the pee, she woke us up whining about her over night living conditions.

Monday, we followed up with the vet and got Kira on Proin (http://www.prnpharmacal.com/products/proin-i.htm). Since then she has really dried up and made it outside to do her business! Over nights, she still leaks a little, but we remain positive that she'll get it under control. She may be on Proin to control the incontinence for the rest of her life, from what we've found, the cost may around $30 a month. Don't let this be a detractor, Kira is a sweet old lady, one day some of us may end up wearing Depends and taking "Proin for people", and I hope someone loves us enough to not turn their back on us!

Socializing. We have a mastiff/st. bernard mix family member, her name is Suki. Suki has not been happy about Kira living her, despite the fact that we have explained the importance of fostering. We have had to keep them separated since Kira moved in. Today, things have taken a turn for the better. Suki was at Petsmart for grooming (thanks to the st. bernard hair do) and when we went to get her, we took Kira along (in a separate car) to see how they'd do in a totally nuetral, dog populated area. Both dogs were model citizens around the strange dogs, but still stressed out about each other. Kira is an absolute treat at and a great mastiff ambassador! She sat patiently while we talked with strangers about her breed and the Southern States Mastiff Rescue, she even rolled over on her back so some young girls could pat her belly. Kira met a baby bulldog that she could have gulped down in one chomp. All she did was lay down face to face with "little man" and wag her tail. Unfortunately, Suki is the aggressor here. We're going to work real hard with her to become a good mastiff host.

Overall it's been a good couple of days. All the dogs in the house are getting closer to friendly and, if Kira stays long enough, we think we'll have a close knit pack with all the dogs interacting well. This is really encouraging because we weren't sure at first if Kira was aggressive and would need to be an only dog. It appears more likely that it will depend on the other dog/dogs in the house.

If you are a mastiff friend, or know one and you're looking for a friend to bring to your house, please consider one of these wonderful animals at SSMR http://www.sosmastiffrescue.org/ each of these wonderful dogs deserves the chance to come into your life and be loved full time.



This is our other baby, Suki. She's a handful and obviously has forgotten who owns this house. Hopefully she's well on her way to becoming a dog-visitor friendly girl.

Kira's Bio

Like the last post said, we took Kira in from the Suffolk Animal Control Shelter in Virginia as a foster home for the Southern States Mastiff Rescue. Our goal is to get her adopted as soon as possible, but rest assured, we are completely happy to keep this dog as long as necessary. Look at this picture, who wouldn't want to keep this big baby?

When we took Kira in on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009, she was literally skeletal! I don't know what she weighed when we brought her home, but on the 22nd, we took her to the vet and she weighed a whopping 125 pounds! She has been eating really well since we brought her in, and I'd guess another 10 pounds to get her to her goal weight. We don't believe in packing weight onto mastiffs just for bragging rights or whatever other reason people pack the pounds on for, mastiffs have a tendency to suffer from hip issues as they age, why compound it with extra weight.

That being said, Kira does eat lke royalty! Every morning and every evening, she gets a half a can of Iams wet dog food and two cups of Pedigree large Breed dry for. Our other dog (a mastiff/st. bernard mix) is the same size and she eats 1/3 can of wet and 1 1/2 cups of dry food, so Kira will cut back once she gets filled in a little. Of course, she gets treats galore, too, training Kira is a breeze, just show her you have a piece of Beggin Bits and she'll do whatever it is you want her to do short of vacuuming and dishes.

Kira

This is Kira, we rescued her from Suffolk, Virginia's Animal Control Shelter where she was assured death by needle.

Kira is a 6 year old English Mastiff who really needs a full time home.

This blog will be used by us to provide updates on Kira and any future foster dogs that cross our thresh hold.

If you're interested in adopting a Mastiff from Southern States Mastiff Resuce http://sosmastiffrescue.org/WELCOMETOSSMR2.htm please go to the web site and have a look.