Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

Astro is a very sweet boy who is the victim of poor breeding. He is completely white, almost entirely deaf, and his vision is also impaired.

He was dumped at the Humane Society of Utah by his original owners who reportedly had "too many dogs". Astro was found unadoptable due to his special needs, so the shelter agreed to release him over to rescue.

Since his arrival, he has been living in a foster home with other dogs and cats and doing amazingly well, despite his handicaps. He has won us all over with his special spirit and winning attitude!

February 15, 2008

Astro went to see an Ophthalmologist today and it was not great news. He has progressive cataracts in both eyes and it is a sure thing that it will progress. We don't know exactly when he will go blind, but it will probably be within the next 6-12 months, if we do not do surgery. His left eye is much worse than his right and there is only a 50/50 chance, whereas there is an 85% chance we can save his right eye. Clearly, a completely deaf and blind dog is not very adoptable and will have many more challenges in life if we don't help him now, so we are going to do whatever we can to at least save one eye.

There are 2 stages of repair and he would have to undergo a retina pexy before the actual cataract surgery. There is a lot of post op care required and about 8-10 rechecks. The total estimate is around $4000, so we have a lot of fundraising to do so that we can get him the care he needs!!!

Donate now: http://www.rmgreatdane.org/store/?show=donate%20to%20rmgdri%20now!!.html

March 10, 2008

Astro is settling in very well at his foster home and overall doing very well. He does occasionally have little fits where he dashes around the house running from one room to another in somewhat of a panic. This happens when he gets nervous, but his foster sisters, Sammie and Sam, do their best to calm him down and reassure him. He will sometimes even leap from the couch over the recliner in his panic, but he does calm down after a minute or so. He loves to have his neck and head rubbed and this also seems to calm him down.

Astro has gained a lot of weight since his arrival and he is no longer looking like a skeleton! He eats like a never ending chow hound but has become used to having a can of wet food mixed in with his dry. He is going to be a big boy! He towers over the other Danes in his foster home and probably should fill out at around 150 lbs. He is about 115 right now, so he has a ways to go still, but he is making progress.

As far as his general personality goes, Astro is so sweet and does not have a mean bone in him. He is not destructive and rides nicely in the car. He likes to chase the cats but they just scoff at him and are not scared of him at all. He is very attached to the other dogs and looks to them for guidance and mimics their every move. He sleeps a lot and you have to wake him when you get home so he realizes you are there. A train could come through and he'd still be asleep. His foster mom tickles his feet to wake him and he gets so happy when he wakes to see you.

He does squint in bright sunlight and we think his eyes hurt a bit outside in the bright sun. He runs into things right in front of him but can see and sticks very close to the other dogs in the park off lead. If he loses sight of them or his foster mom he gets a little nervous, but he is really good about sticking close. He just loves to play at the park and explore with his friends! Astro is an incredibly sweet dog and we are anxious to get him the surgery he needs to correct his vision loss.

April 28, 2008

Astro has had appointments with 2 different vets already. They recommendations were quite different between the two, so we will be getting a third opinion and then decide the best treatment based on all the suggestions. Astro has an appointment this week on Wednesday April 30th with Dr Hammond.

5-5-08

As you know, Astro was originally diagnosed with severe cataracts that required surgery. When Astro arrived in Colorado, we took him to a canine eye specialist who actually provided a very different opinion than the vet in Utah. He felt that he did not require surgery. As you can imagine, this was quite a shock after the initial diagnosis. Because of the differing views, Astro was scheduled for a third appointment with yet another vet. Astro went for his 3rd opinion and Dr. Hammond agreed with the specialist here in CO that Astro did not need surgery.

The following is a synopsis of Dr. Hammond’s diagnosis:

Astro does have congenital defects due to the inbreeding of harlequins. His left eye has a small cataract and the lens is slightly luxated, the right eye is better with a small cataract. He does have vision in both eyes. He also has microphthalmia(small eye size), and deformation of his lens. Dr Hammond was encouraged that the back of Astro's eyes are developed much better than other dogs he has seen with these conditions. We cannot put a time frame on how long Astro will have sight. The progression varies. Keeping him protected from the afternoon sun due to his lack of pigment would help- possibly doggles if we could get him to wear them. But he should have many good years of sight!

While Astro not requiring surgery is a huge plus for him, it puts the Rescue in a very sensitive situation in regards to donations. Please know that his fundraiser was initiated with only good intentions based on the diagnosis from a vet, who was a presumed expert. We truly thought he needed surgery. As a result of this situation, the Rescue has implemented a new policy requiring a second opinion on ALL major surgeries in order to eliminate any future misdiagnoses.

The Rescue, as a gesture of good faith, is now contacting every donor to give them an opportunity to have their donation returned or with their permission, to have their donation included in the Rescue’s medical fund. This medical fund is earmarked specifically for emergency situations such as bloat and/or major medical cases such as TPLO surgery, etc. By having a medical fund, the Rescue is able to maintain its general operating fund while still having the ability to take care of extraordinary medical expenses. In 2008 alone, we have had 14 major medical cases come through Rescue.

While we understand that this situation is frustrating, we hope that you will realize that it was an honest mistake and that we are doing all that we can to rectify the situation. As always, our focus is to obtain the best possible care for our Rescue Danes and ensure that they are successful in finding a forever home. As I have said many times, it is the generous support from our donors/volunteers that is critical to the success of our Rescue and our Rescue Danes.

Thank you all for all your prayers and generous support of Astro, it is great people like you that help us care for those with special needs.

Astro Donors

A great big thank you to the following people who graciously donated funds so Astro's eyesight can be improved!

The Archer Family, Kari Bastyr, Sara Boenisch, Jasper Butero, Tanya Caughey, Mike Cetinich, Sarah Coffield, April Curtis,
Lesley Dahlkemper, Harmony Davies, Susan Duron, Debbie Evert, Carline Fritz, Mark Frogge, Thane Hodson, Patricia Humphries
Debra Hurlbut, Kalin Ivany, Emma Johnson, Brent Johnson, Michelle Legler, Catherine Lesnansky, James Madsen, Dana Maison
Susan McCarty, Kristie Mendralla, Rich Miller, Cris Mullins, Diane Murphy, Patricia Natoli, Julie Parker, Missi Robbins,
Cynthia Robinson, Susan Rosen, Rachiel Rosser, Carol Rubin, Cindy Shillig, Sheila Taylor, Kelly Treichel, Kelly Williams
Rand Winton, Christine Zanoni, Heidi Zunk, Ray Lujan, Art Bragg, Glen Rhodes, Chad Arnold, Mike Logan, Christi Connolly, Friendly Visits Pet Care, Tony Haggar, Virginia Wedemeyer, Scott Sanders, Jane Allard, Kelly Williams
Dr. Kristen Kirk, DVM and her students at PIMA Medical Institute.