Special Needs Dog

[Shhalahr Windrider]

My sister has an 8-year-old shih-tzu/poodle mix that has been developing some bad urinary and digestive tract problems. Unfortunately, the corrective surgeries are becoming too costly. If she gets sick again and needs another surgery, my sister may no longer be able to keep her.

The ideal outcome of such a scenario would be finding a home that is able to look after her and afford the special care. Unfortunately, we don’t really know where to start looking for such a home. Does anyone here have any experience with and advice to offer on re-homing a special needs dog?

[Force]

The best place to start would be any no-kill rescues or shelters in your area. They may be able to help. If there are none locally, you may need to search nationally.

However, if you would allow me to speak bluntly...

I'm a dog shelter volunteer worker at a no-kill shelter. Every time we evaluate a dog such as your sister's, we have to consider the fact that the dog in question will be a major drain on our time and resources. In addition, the special needs dog will be taking a spot in our shelter or in the home of one of our fosters that we could fill with a healthy dog that otherwise would be put down. Because of these concerns, it may prove difficult to find a place for your sister's dog.

[Savannah]

Even if there aren't any no-kill shelters, any animal shelter might be able to give you some advice, or point your towards resources in your community.

Has your sister talked to her vet about how she's not able to pay? She might be able to get on some sort of payment plan or the vet may have some lower-cost alternatives. You might also check and see if there are any low-cost veterinary clinics in the area (they may not be able to perform the needed surgery, but they might know of something that will help). If there's any sort of veterinary school in your area, you might ask if they have a lower cost clinic with student veterinarians.

Is corrective surgery the only option? Is it something that could be controlled with diet and some medication for a while? I can't stress enough how much a top quality diet can help with chronic health conditions. You might want to see a holistic medicine focused veterinarian if your normal vet says that surgery is the only option.

I'm going to speak bluntly as well...It might be better for the dog to live for as long as she comfortably can and then be humanely euthanized; rehoming a dog is extremely stressful, especially for an older dog. Will she live so much longer in another home that it's worth taking her away from the people she knows and loves?

It might not be possible to rehome her. I also volunteer at a shelter, and it's extremely hard to find adopters even for perfectly healthy older dogs. Special needs dogs are even harder to place, especially given the current economy.