Rambo Is Ready For A Foster

Rambo on 1/18/18

Leave No Paws Behind rescued Rambo on 6/27/17. Rambo was owner surrendered to the Baldwin Park Shelter, and his owners requested that he be put to sleep. We went out to the shelter to go and see him, and found him to be sad, depressed, and in obvious pain. According to his previous owners, they had taken him to their vet and he was initially diagnosed with some kind of auto immune disease (initially thought to be lupus), but the owners refused further testing and instead took him the shelter. He was in the worst shape of any dog we had seen in a very long time.

Rambo the day we rescued him, 6/27/17

Rambo's ears the day we rescued him, 6/27/17

Since then, he has been under the amazing care of  Dr Missy Achenbach, VMD, of The Pet Doctors of Sherman Oaks and Dr Angus at The Animal Dermatology Clinic of Pasadena. After correctly diagnosing him with pemphigus at The Pet Doctors, and working with The Dermatology Clinic to create a treatment regimen, we are proud to announce that Rambo is ready for his foster home! Rambo had a follow up appointment with Dr Angus on 1/18/18, and the Dr was amazed at how far Rambo has come!

Rambo's disease, pemphigus, is an auto immune disease. As such, there is no cure, but with proper management and care, he is essentially in remission. He will be on medication for the rest of his life, but with a watchful eye of a diligent foster, and follow ups at the Pet Doctors, we feel he is ready for a local area (Los Angeles/Sherman Oaks) foster.

Based on his current health assessment, Rambo has had some restrictions removed, which we hope may encourage a possible foster to step up :)

Rambo will never be allowed to be a frisbee dog, but based on the fact that he is rebuilding some muscle mass, he is cleared for walks and even some hiking if his foster slowly builds up to that. Based on the medication he is on, he is susceptible to ACL tears or ligament issues, so no fast moving turns chasing a ball or tearing up a back yard chasing another dog. Rambo still doesn't have any hair on his back, so he is prone to sunburns, and he will need to be kept indoors during the day (between 10-4) to avoid sun exposure. He can go outside to use the restroom during the day, and shady walks in the neighborhood should be fine. He has had a lot of new hair growth on his face, ears, legs, and belly, so we believe that he will regain hair on his back as he continues to get healthier and stay in remission, which allows us to slowly reduce his prednisone dosage. Prednisone is a hair growth inhibitor, and as you can see, once we were able to start reducing the dosage, hair growth resumed. It looks like the bridge of his nose and inside of his ears will never grow hair again, but our fingers our crossed that hair will return to his back :)

Rambo does require taking medication daily, and a weekly medicated bath. Both can be done by a foster, under direction by Dr Missy Achenbach, and regardless of how Rambo seems to be feeling or how great he looks, that medication regimen will need to be diligently followed to avoid a relapse. Rambo is really good about taking his meds and his weekly baths, so these should be fairly easy.

his front legs and his belly are almost completely covered in hair!

Once a foster has been selected, we will arrange to have them meet with Dr Achenbach to learn all there is to know about caring for Rambo, what to keep an eye out for (to catch a potential relapse quickly), and all the ins n outs of this amazing dog. At this point, we really feel like caring for Rambo moving forward should be fairly simple as long as his treatment schedule is maintained.

Rambo is very treat motivated, and will work for food. He has learned a few commands and tricks while he has been with us, so we'd love to see someone continue to work with him! He loves to learn, and working with him (teaching him down, stay, heel, maybe some fun tricks, etc) is a great way to bond with him.

you can see the new hair growing on his belly and rear legs

Since Rambo has an incurable medical condition, Leave No Paws Behind will pay for all his medical for the remainder of his life. We are looking for a forever foster home for Rambo, a place he can call his own. As mentioned before, our ideal candidate will need to live in the Los Angeles/San Fernando Valley area. We would like him to be an only dog, as rambunctious play could injure him, but will consider placing him in a home with other senior or lower activity dogs. If this sounds like you, please email us at info@leavenopawsbehind.com and let us know!