With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I’d share a tail of gratitude about Sam Ham, my beautiful Brittany Spaniel. He came to me in 2010 from a high kill shelter in Georgia. I found him because of a local rescue group I was working with. They noticed he had problems with his back legs that kept him from getting around well. Because of his physical condition, they were worried about how easy he would be to place in a home.
When I got him, I did a full evaluation so I could figure out the best treatment option. He had a list of physical concerns. For one, he had muscle wasting in his rear legs that led to unbearable pain in his feet. When I’d touch his feet, he’d jump and snap, then get embarrassed. The poor thing was dragging his feet around and had torn off several of his toenails.
Not only was he having problems with his legs and feet, but he also had the foulest gas imaginable. It was clear that his stomach wasn’t processing food well.
Once I figured out the things that needed to be addressed, I got to work. It was amazing how fast he bounced back after I did a few things for him. For one, I implanted a suture at acupoints over his sacrum. He was able to run without it hurting his feet. I put him in a splint so he could move easily, and protect his toes.
Immediately, I started giving him The Original CrockPet Diet to help the gas. It went away pretty quickly. Also, his hair became shiny and he regained his confidence as the pain left his body. At work, we joked that he had a $1,000 butt wag! He loved people and would walk up to them with his big smile and wag his little bottom as fast as he could. What a happy dog he was!
I’ve got so many fond memories of Sam Ham. One of my favorite stories to share was during Thanksgiving. That particular year, I planned to make a leg of lamb for the meal. I set the lamb in the sink to thaw and went upstairs. When I came down, Sam was in his crate and growling at all of the other pets that were walking by. So, I went over to the crate to find out what was going on and realized he had my lamb!
He wasn’t in it alone…the cats got it out of the sink and managed to get the plastic off. Of course, that meant it was covered in dog hair. Sam had snatched it from them and protected it with all he had. That year, we ate eggs and let our pets enjoy a special Thanksgiving meal. They were given lamb and a batch of TOCP.
We lost him a few years ago, but I still miss him dearly. I hope you’ll join me in giving thanks for all of the animals in our life that are with us and those that have gone on before. As a way to honor them, please share your favorite pet story with me! Leave it in the comments below.
Also, I wanted to mention that in honor of Giving Tuesday (December 3rd) I’ll donate 5% of all sales to OLAAT. Here’s more information about that organization:
This charity focuses One Library at a time.
WHAT IS ONE LIBRARY AT A TIME?
They collaborate with the teachers and community leaders to determine which books the children need most. Then they purchase those books (locally if possible) and begin to turn books and shelves into a library.
They work with other non-profits to identify locations for libraries. Then the real work begins.
The organization label and catalog all of the books using the Dewey Decimal System. Then train a local resident, teacher, or older children to be librarians. They are taught to continue the work of labeling, cataloging, and checking the books out to the children.
One of the important things they strive to do is to get the local community and other non-profits involved to continue to “feed” the library with books after the older generation is gone.
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