Adopting Senior and Special-Needs Animals, in Honor of Chance's 13th
Today is Chance the corgi lab's 13th (observed) birthday. And it is good that she is not cognizant of this -- because she would otherwise be understandably miffed that she and I spent a couple hours of it at the vet's office, where she was subjected to much unpleasantness in the name of treatment as well as preventive testing. Nor would she be particularly thrilled that tomorrow is brush-and-bath day. But even though she doesn't know that today is anything special, and even though we don't know when she was really born, I'll still fix her a dinner with extra goodies tonight and give her an extra belly rub; the day means something to me because of how much she means to me and because I'm painfully aware that she's in her final year or years.
Information from Chance's first 8 years of life is vague and scarce. I know that she spent most of her first 6 to 7 years tied to a tree. I know that she wasn't taken to the vet often if ever. I know that many of the ear problems she has now are the result of years of ear infections gone untreated. And I know that after she somehow ended up in a central Illinois shelter after those first several years, she was adopted twice -- and returned twice -- before I came along; she was in those homes only briefly and each time was returned not because she'd done anything wrong, but essentially because she wasn't perfect, and her adopters -- well, let's just say they weren't perfect either.
I met Chance several months after her second return. The staff had kept her on the main page of their site as the featured dog for months, trying to give her a leg up. I heard one of the shelter workers refer to her as "Second Chance" that day I drove the hour to meet her. Between her age, severe allergies, ear infections, reported accidents inside (which, for the record, she's never had with me except for when on steroids or terrified of something, so I'm tempted to assume that her previous brief caregiver simply left her alone for inappropriate lengths of time), and a body shape that guaranteed future arthritis and joint problems, she was having a hard time finding a home. So she'd been at the shelter off and on for a long time, and this was not a no-kill shelter, nor was it fine living; her current surroundings were depressing, and her prospects weren't good.
But oh, was she sweet. She was sweet and funny and playful and affectionate, and she deserved to get the hell out of there, to spend the last years of her life better than she'd spent the majority of it. And she has. I wouldn't trade the decision to bring her home for anything. Every stressful moment or mess, every hour upon hour at vet's offices, every dollar spent and credit card bill cringed at -- they have all been outweighed by the joy of witnessing her life and of witnessing her joy, by the honor of getting to live these last five years, and hopefully still a couple more, knowing her. She is a remarkable being, and I adore her.
This nation's shelters (and even streets), like those of other nations, are full of dogs and cats and other animals, many of them senior or special-needs animals. These latter animals aren't the ones most people are inclined to adopt, yet they deserve lives and love no less than the healthy puppy three cages down. They didn't do anything wrong to suffer the illnesses or injuries or problems they may have. It's not their fault that they were abandoned in old age or sickness or that they have diabetes or arthritis. They didn't ask to be blind or deaf or allergic or traumatized by beatings. And they certainly didn't ask or deserve to be caged, lonely, and afraid. But when Petfinder, which declared this past August 12 Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day, polled shelters about which animals are hardest to place, senior animals came in first, and "pets with medical problems" came in second ("victims of breed prejudice" came in a very close third).
Rescuing an older or special-needs animal sometimes brings challenges, but it also can bring unique joys. The next time you or someone you know is looking to add a new member to the family, please remember Chance and the mind-boggling number of animals like her who need homes and affection as much as anyone else. They are so worth saving.
Helpful Links
Rescue Groups With a Special Focus on Helping Senior Dogs (state-by-state resource, from the Senior Dogs Project)
The Grey Muzzle Organization (this group deserves a later post all of its own)
HandicappedPets.com (resources, support, and products)
Top Ten Reasons to Adopt an Older Dog (from the Senior Dogs Project)
Fight Discrimination on All Fronts: Adopt-a-Less-Adoptable Pet Day! (guest post from Kelly Garbato here on this blog)
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Photo above of Chance and photo below of Mabel and Chance, both my special-needs pals, by yours truly (for the record, uneven hair growth on her right back half is not one of Chance's odd problems; she'd had surgery four months prior)
Stephanie Ernst
wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
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