Bear’s Story

Above are the two photos taken by the shelter when Bear was brought in by Animal Control

Sweet little Bear also joined our family quite unexpectedly.  We heard a story about a Yorkie who had been picked up as a stray by our County Shelter.  Unfortunately, our County Shelter is a kill shelter and very overcrowded.  There is a very good chance that animals who end up there won’t make it out.  Bear was put on their website and classified as “Lost”.  He did have a microchip which probably gave him a little more time.  “Stray” animals with no microchip are held for 3 days.  “Lost” animals with microchips are held for 5 days to give their owners time to claim them.

The shelter repeatedly called the phone number listed on the microchip and left many messages.  For whatever reason, the owners never responded to the phone messages or came to the shelter to take him home.  The shelter did keep him more than the required 5 days due to some County meetings that happened to be taking place during the time that Bear was in the “Lost” section of the shelter.

The day finally came when Bear was moved to the Adoption Floor temporarily.  We made the trip to the shelter to see him.  We found out he was being moved to the Euthanasia List because during his long stay, he acquired a respiratory infection.  He was also urinating blood.

We spent some time with Bear (who was originally named “Tiger” according to his microchip information.)  We made the decision that we couldn’t abandon him at the shelter where he probably wouldn’t be alive to see the next day.  The adoption was finalized and we took him home.

On the way home “Tiger” was given the name “Bear” by John in memory of our “Benji Bear” from many years before.  The first thing we had to do was take him to the vet to be treated for the respiratory infection.  At the same time, he was given a complete checkup.  An x-ray revealed that he had bladder stones, which explained the blood.  There were so many stones in his bladder and the vet told us he needed surgery as soon as possible.  Surgery was scheduled for a week later. 

The respiratory infection cleared up in a few days, thankfully before the surgery.  During the surgery an entire tube of stones was removed.  The vet made the comment that the poor little guy was probably suffering in silence for a very long time.

Bear recovered quickly and has really blossomed over the 9 months that he’s been with us.  He is being tested for a recurrence of the bladder stones every 3 months.  So far, all the tests have come back negative. 

Bear has only one problem.  He doesn’t like to be alone.  If John or I get up and leave the room, he immediately follows us.  If we go outside to the yard, he’s right behind us.  We can’t leave the house completely without him because he frantically runs around the house looking for us the entire time we are gone.  We’ve left cameras on in order to check on him, and he whines and races through the house looking for us the entire time we’re gone.  As an experiment we started putting him in a crate with toys and stuffed animals whenever we had to leave.  He has finally accepted this and now willingly goes into his crate whenever we leave the house. 

He gets along well with Pepper, Shelby, Bella, and Lexi.  That’s a big plus.  I think they helped a lot in giving him confidence and making him feel safe and loved.

Bear, we have a feeling that you had a very hard life before we found each other.  But I promise you, the rest of your life will be wonderful./

This is the first photo we took of Bear the day we brought him home. The photos below show how Bear has changed over the months since his adoption.

Click the Banner Below to Continue