9 July 2013: We are sorry to have to update Molly’s page with the news that she has very sadly passed away. Our thoughts are with her lovely foster family, who gave her a wonderful home and took such great care of her for the nine months she was in Oldies Club care. Sleep tight Molly, you will be missed.
Molly is a 15 year old Basset Hound girl who recently came into Oldies Club foster care and has joined our sponsor dog scheme.
Molly is a beautiful 15 year old basset who was found lying next to her dead owner. She spent a considerable time each day on her own until she came into Oldies’ care. She spent the first day or two peering anxiously through the garden gate as if looking for the people who had brought her to her foster home but then settled down as if she’d been there all her life.
She had to pay an early visit to the vet and was diagnosed with a urinary infection, which a course of antibiotics cured. The vet also commented on her very bad teeth, but was reluctant to anaesthetise such an elderly lady with a heart murmur. However, following two occasions when Molly became very unwell and had a raised white cell count, suggesting she was fighting an infection, the decision was made to give her a dental. Molly was on the operating table for 2 hours and had some of the most difficult teeth the vet had ever dealt with. Several had to be removed and it was obvious there were several infections under them. Molly sailed through the long anaesthetic and recovered so quickly that she ate a complete tin of food before leaving the surgery the same day, much to the amazement of all the vet nurses. She does not believe in missing meals! She has continued to make an excellent recovery.
She does have a couple of other problems – she suffers from sleep startle so could accidentally bite if touched when asleep or when waking up, she needs her ears cleaned frequently, she has ingrowing eyelashes so needs her eyes cleaned and artificial tears administered regularly and she suffers from some faecal incontinence so it has been decided she should live out her days in her foster home.
Despite her age she is quite mobile and still has the odd mad moment when she will chase a ball or have a mad dash up and down the hall. Although Molly is completely deaf and partially sighted she is always to be found sitting next to the table at mealtimes. She shares her home with another basset and a labrador and is a very sociable lady. She is living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks – she has mastered the dog door . She has the typical stubbornness of her breed and has to persuaded she wants to do something, not told. Molly is an absolute delight to foster and her funny basset ways give her fosterers much pleasure.
If you would love to offer a home to an oldie but your circumstances aren’t suitable, perhaps you would be kind enough to sponsor Molly or one of the other special oldies we are caring for that, due to health problems, are unlikely to be offered a permanent home.