The Vertical Version of Melvin!

Melvin has been doing great in his new home! Thank you to all of you who continue to send emails to get updates.

His new mom and dad say he loves his new yard, his canine brother, and his neighbor that plays with him often!

He has put on almost 10 lbs, but still manages to keep his long (aka lanky :) figure.

His new Bailey's chair, that a wonderful volunteer handmade is being put to great use and will help Melvin maintain his health and prevent any further stretching of his esophagus.

Melly has found a wonderful new life... one he never would have survived if it weren't for so many people!

Melvin Living the Great Life

Melvin's new mom says Melvin is doing wonderfully. He loves his run everyday at the fence (that is now Melly proof) with his new neighbor and sibling and even gets playdates! As you can see, Melvin is still performing his trademark hugs!
He has been able to keep his food down minus one mishap. His loving new mom and dad are spoiling him with yummy wet food without dry food at this time to let his tummy have a little break and to avoid any problems in the future.
His chair is still in the works and hopefully will be done soon!

It was great to here that he was doing well! We miss you Melly!

Melvin has been Adopted!

So Melvin was greeted yesterday by a family that has always had 2 to 3 dogs at a time. At this point in their lives they had one dog in their life as the others had passed away.

These guys have made a life long commitment to many dogs. They loved and cared for eacha and everyone of them throughout each dogs happy life as if they were their own children. They suffered through cancer with one, a medically needed amputation, and neurological problems with another. They did everything the doctors recommended to help their dogs way into each dogs older years.

This family was looking into adopting and when they heard Melvin's story, they came by the next day to meet him. Wow was I not prepared when they said...."so can we adopt him right now?"!!! And I have to be honest... I think I actually said "no!". Once I pulled myself together and came back to reality and my senses, I made them endure our family filling them in on everything....again. With their approval process done prior to meeting Melvin, and patiently listening to the second day of being filled in on his past medical history, current needs and possibly future ones , they did not bat an eye!

Melvin had already sucked them in with his Charm and was giving them his full body, 4 legged signature hug with his chin on their shoulder!

Everyone on the street and our family bid him fairwell and shed a few tears... We will really miss him. He really is a special, sweet, smart puppy. He deserved this great home that found him!

We are still working on the chair for Melvin and everyone will be kept up to date on his new fun life!

A few hours after he left, we called to check in on him. His new mom and dad and 20-ish yr old human sibling filled us in and said he was eating and playing well. He had already played and met his neighbors and new dog friends and he was enjoying himself following his new canine brother, Raz, around everywhere.

We will dearly miss you Melly!

We are so excited and happy that Melvin found his Forever Home!

Research, Research, Research

I think that I have become an expert on all this esophageal stuff. The fact that he can eat mixed dry and wet food with out a problem is GREAT! The research says this will be something he will outgrow if we are very careful and cautious right now.

His new chair that we will have will help progress his tolerance to food, but hopefully he will only need it for dry food for a little while! Keep your fingers crossed!

Bailey Chair

Melvin is still putting on the pounds! He is happy and playful and does not seem to be in any pain at all.

I tried to up his food today with a little more dry food and unfortunately, he had trouble with it. The research says that we want to work very hard at not stretching out his esophagus, soooooo... we are looking for someone to make a growing Bailey Chair for him. This is a chair that allows him to eat in an upright position and stay there for a short time to keep all of his food in his tummy and not sitting and stretching out his esophagus. This will definitely help the progression of any megaesophagus that he may develop and keep him fat and happy!

Is there anyone out there that can help????? We need a handyman/woman/carpenter that can help us out. I can't even find my hammer in my house right now :)

Growing Fast

Melvin is up to 23lbs now! He was extremely thin going into the surgery 2 weeks ago and came out of even thinner. Four cans of wet food a day has kept this lanky boy growing. He is feeling so much better and is playing and holding his own with our two dogs! He got to go to Subway and the park the other day and was very excited! Forgot how hard it was to eat a good sub with a puppy right there trying to share it though ;)

Melvin follow up visit with South Paws

Melvin went to his post-op appointment today. He was able to get his sutures out and strut his stuff in the office. He acted all goofy for about 3 minutes with the Vet and then decided enough was enough and just laid down and stared at him while he kept talking.

Basically, Melvin's esophagus and heart are good. There is a time frame that will be needed to have his esophagus work more efficiently so we will have to progress his food to dry food slowly and only if he isn't throwing up.

He is free to play and walk around now, just nothing strenuous like rough housing or chasing balls. I say this as I see him finally getting to play with my two dogs under my feet!

Melvin did show his funny side today with grabbing a raw potato out of my pantry and bowling with it down my hallway. He kept pushing it with his nose until it rolled and then would attack bounce if it went too far. We were all laughing!

We did have a little skin scrape done by the vet for a dry skin area and he will need some medication for a short stint, but that was the worst of it! Yay Melvin!

He has his fundraising event this Saturday, so please plan on coming!