Bane’s Story
Sir Bane
We, the angels, were traveling around to some of the shelters we partner with in November of 2020. When we arrived to Benton county we met Sir Bane. He had been found as a stray and the shelter director was telling us about how when he came in he had so many fleas & ticks on him and how he was so weak he could not stand or walk and she had to carry him. He looked so pitiful. Not only was he super skinny but he also had some skin issues (hair loss, rash, happy tail) and he had these dark spots all over his abdominal area that the shelter believed to be cancer spots. To top it off he's a pittie mix. The odds were not in his favor.
The shelter director said she was really hoping we could find a way to help him and quickly. A lack of resources to care for his anticipated medical needs on top of a never ending lack of space does not leave shelter directors many options. This dog was so incredibly sweet though. Hearing his story while he just sat there looking up at us had all three of us in tears. He just kept coming up and leaning into our legs for some love. He was clearly not feeling great either but he was super tolerant of the other dogs, including a young rambunctious puppy that was all over him. We definitely all felt the same way. There was no way we were leaving that shelter without him. We may not have known what we were going to do with him exactly but we did know he wasn't staying so we grabbed a leash and loaded him up!!
Luckily Laura didn't hesitate to say she would foster him!! Bane rode around with us the rest of that day as we traveled to various counties and when we got home that night we gave him his first medicated bath and got him caught up medically with shots and a heartworm test. Of course he tested as a strong positive for heartworms! As if the boy didn't have enough going on. Heartworm is an easily preventable disease. All it takes is a monthly dose of heartworm prevention. Some people may feel that they can’t afford the approx $10ish a month for prevention but the cost of treatment can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. If left untreated, heartworm is fatal. For the love of all that is good, please keep your dogs on heartworm prevention!
Laura got him into the vet asap for heartworm staging so he could begin treatment and sadly they discovered he was such an advanced case that they needed to rush his treatment. They bypassed the initial phase of treatment and went straight to starting his injections. The injections were hard on poor Bane. He didn't bounce back nearly as quickly as what many of the dogs we've sent through treatment in the past have rebounded. He stayed strong though and pushed through. Luckily he's continued to improve little by little everyday since treatment has been completed. This boy was a super trooper, his spirit was never fazed. Bane remained the happy, snuggly, easy going boy throughout the entire treatment process.
With heartworms behind him, all that's left now is for Bane to find his forever home!!! He loves being Laura's couch potato but he'd love it even more if he could find a family of his very own. You guys have no idea, he's got SO much love to give. Whomever adopts this sweet boy will be the lucky ones. He's truly one special guy!! He's available for adoption through CARE if anyone is interested in helping write the end of Bane's story!! (adoption applications can be submitted at http://care.rescuegroups.org)
