Meet Duke!

Our lovely old staffie has come to live with us!

So the story is this: an oldish Staf was wandering around the neighbourhood, and attached himself to one of our neighbours who was taking his JAck Rusell for a walk. My hubby came from the shops as the neighbout was giving the old guy some water, adn I think it was one of those "love at 1st sight" things. Long story short - another neighbour took him in when we had to go out, he ended up 1st a t the vet, and then the spca, which gave his original family 10 days to find and fetch him, which didn't happen. Ads were plaecd in the papers, poster wer put up in the village centre, and still nobody claimed him. All the while we were holding our breath, as we desperately wanted him. Anyway, all is well now.

The adoption was finalised on Friday afternoon. We fetched him on Saturday morning, and aside from a sniffle, for which he's taking an antibiotic for the next 10 days, and a grade 1 heart murmur, he's fine. The vet says the murmur really isn't really a problem, and we're hoping that a good diet and exercise will help. He's already a bit more bouncy than when we 1st met him 2 weeks ago, and he's lost a little weight. He weighed a hefty 22,5kg on Saturday!

He's really sweet, and follows us all over the house. He sleeps at our feet on his blankie when we watch TV in the evenings. He has a bed in my son's room, and he's slept well from the very 1st night. He woke once or twice, went over and cheked on Son, and then climbed back into his bed and went back to sleep. I can't believe how fast and how well he's settled in! He was used to his new name by day 2, which is awesome too. He has lovely manners, and sits or lays at our feet at suppertime, andd doesn't beg. He loves tickles and scratches, he's a complete addict! He's absolutely gorgeous! And so docile too. Hubby took a couple of ticks off him, and even though he put his tail between his legs a bit, and flinched as they were removed, he was such a good boy about it.

I am a bit worried that he's not interested in his food. Since Saturday, he's only eaten a little bit on Sunday morning. We're giving him Hill's Science Plan, and when he didn't eat on the weekend, we tried mixing in a bit of tinned food too, but he still wasn't keen. He's drinking lots of water, and seems quite chipper for a chubby old man, So I'm really not quite sure what to do. The advice I've received from a knowledgeable friend, as well as the spca is not to worry, and just to perservere. So I put his food down for about an hour in the morning, and try and encourage him to eat, which he doesn't and then pick it up again, as I really don't want to have it out all day. Gross. And then od the same thing in the evenings. I was wondering if the tablet and the sniffle had anything to do with his lack of appetite? Any advice would be appreciated.

I'll load some pics on the gallery so you can see our beautiful boy. It seems he's not crossed with anything, he's just plain staffie, but frankly, it really wouldn't matter. We love him anyway!

ps Thanks for all the replies to my 1st post, your support was awesome!

the not eating may just be a settling in thing try feeding him a little by hand then put the bowl down so he relises that it is for him and not something he has to leave(HE MAY JUST BE VERY WELL BEHAVED AND DONT WONT TO PINCH)all and all it sounds like you have a great chap on your hands and i cant wait to see the pics ov him

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well done and he sounds lovely.

As for the food thing, when i rescued Molly she didnt eat at lot at first until she got into Jakes routine, now both of them eat at the same time no problem. Well done for rescuing Duke and get the pics on here pronto lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What a great story, well done you, its so great how they just settle in to the family isn't it! Mines also a rescue and as mentioned It could just be a settling in thing the not eating so I wouldn't worry, all is so new to him!

Can't wait for the pics

yeah good on you.!! can't wait to see some photos of him !!

Awww congrats on rescuing, he sounds brill!

So glad it went well for you!

I would think he's just settling in, and may have lost his appetite a little. I mean, he must have had an appetite at some time if he's chubby! Don't forget that you're almost certainly giving him a different food to the one he's used to so it may just take him a bit of time to adjust.

As long as he's drinking well & seems alert & lively then I wouldn't worry too much right now.

Wahay, so glad they let you take him home! Sounds like Duke is settling in fantastically already! As Caryll said I suspect that hes just turning his nose up at the dry food as hes probably been eating scraps and leftovers for a while. He must have been getting a fair bit to be overweight too so don't worry about him starving to death!

yay, another saved pup! good for you guys

suzyq505 wrote:yay, another saved pup! good for you guys

Here here

You have picked the best name there is for him "duke" is my boys name too congratulations!!!!!!

So glad he has settled in

Hi again, well Duke's really settled in well, and is losing some weight! He seems to have more energy since we 1st got him too, probably due to losing all that excess, and sometimes I worry he's going wag his tail off He finally started eating properly yesterday, after making do with one or 2 mouthfuls per day. I was really good though, and didn't crumble by giving him scraps or leftovers! Last night he polished off all his food, and then proceeded to eat his "toothbrush" too He's managed to shake the cold he had when he 1st arrived, and he's going for his shots this Saturday. We can't wait, as then we'll be finally be able to take him out for walks!

I've been trying to upload pics, but I can't seem to get it right? Photobucket doesn't work for me. Is there a way to upload directly from my computer?

Thanks!
E

Congrats on your new member to your family, he sounds lovely, looking forward to seeing some pics.

That's great news, so glad he's eating as he should be now, things like that are a worry arn't they...

If you open an account in photobucket and upload your pic's to there, once there on, hover your mouse over the pic you want and a drop-down box will appear, left-click on the last one "IMG code", then come back to here and start a new topic in the Gallery section, you'll see there is a box with a picture on it, click that then in the box, right-click and choose paste, then click OK, jobs a good 'un.

Hope that helps

I'll give it a bash then! Thanks

Can u tell we are so happy for u? lol

it makes me feel all warm and gooey reading your story, just like every time another is re-homed. big congratulations. x

sooz225 wrote:FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done for rescuing Duke and get the pics on here pronto lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I can't wait to see pics either.

I'm sure once he has time to "really" settle in, he will be fine with his food

Just thought I'd let you know, he's eaten all his food, 2 days straight... I think we're over that hurdle now. Yay!!

What a fantastic story.. sounds like you've found a real jem there. Glad to hear he's feeding better now... Cant wait for the pics. xx

pics pics

Pics are on the gallery.