Operation Save the Chicken - a Follow-up

So, a month ago, I discovered a chicken that was wandering around our apartment complex. Upon closer exam, I realized that she was once a pet and would not survive the winter. I needed to do something about that. I immediately started Operation Save the Chicken. You can read about the rest of the story here if you are just now tuning in.

It has been a month since little Bella was rescued and given a new home. I thought it was time to give a follow-up on how she is doing. Mainly because I am SO happy with the decision that was made in rescuing her and the home she went to.

Operation Save the Chicken!

So, my husband will tell you that I am a complete sucker when it comes to creatures. I see abandoned or stray animals and my heart softens. My husband would prefer to simply call animal control and let them do their job. However, I know that their job is to capture animals in any way possible, give them a look over, and then put them in the shelter ... which usually gives the poor creature anywhere from three days to two weeks before execution.

Okay, so it is humanely done ... but still! They didn't ask for their life and they didn't ask to be put to sleep because of it. Enter Operation Save the Chicken.

So ... Monday ... driving to our errands with the kids, I see this thing that doesn't look right in the woods. I snapped a picture and drove a little closer ... sure enough, in our woods we have a wandering chicken!

I love my vet

Even though I have to drive about 20 minutes to get to them, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Johnny went to see the vet a month ago and was officially diagnosed with anxiety. He gets anxious when we leave him or when he is around strangers (even if they shouldn't be strangers). He was given doggie prozac and doggie xanax. He was given the xanax for only 2 weeks and I was to give the prozac for a month and then go in for a follow-up. So, Monday was the follow-up visit. He is doing much better. He doesn't bark as much when we leave, in fact it is more of a rarity when he barks. He does still bark at strangers so he is not good to go with dog parks, PetSmart (except before store hours when we go to daycamp - although it is better for him to be in the side or back playroom so he doesn't keep seeing people walk by), etc. While getting our check-up, we found out he has a bacterial/yeast infection in between his front toes. The vet said that normally a vet would say let's do a series of things to treat this but he wouldn't want to do all of them for his dog so he told me what he would do. Wash his feet with a special prescription shampoo once a day for 2 weeks, then every other day for about a week or 2. So instead of spending $50 alone on his paws, I spent $16. Johnny isn't very appreciative of the foot baths though.

Also, we were originally going to have Johnny on meds for a year to a year and a half and now we are looking at only 6 months. We are hoping that by summer Johnny will be calm enough to be able to handle strangers and us leaving.

Johnny Gets Christmas

At least in his mind he will get Christmas on Saturday. We don't have the $65 to board him and let him play while we go get Jayme and return, so, he is coming with us. He will make the 5 hour round trip with us, then we will let him play in the back yard of Aunt Amanda's house for about 3-4 hours. Then we make the trip back. To him, this will be Christmas. The only bummer part will be having to give him meds on the road. He has been doing much better already though and we have only changed a few routines. I think that part of the barking (when we are home) is due to boredom. I bought him a nylabone though and those are supposed to last days and he demolished it last night only a few hours after I gave it to him! He is a chewer. He loves his new roundabout toy. The picture doesn't show his but I gave him a purple hippo.