Zatoichi's Journey

A long time ago in a dog pen not very far away…

There was a little black inky Amstaff boy who was incredibly lonely.  A victim of neglect, he spent all of the days and nights of his young life alone in his pen.  Sometimes if he didn’t get enough to eat, a neighbor would take pity on him and bring him extra food.  Sometimes the little dog would escape and run to the neighbor’s porch so he could have the only thing he really wanted, contact with people.  One day, after another escape, Animal Control got involved, and it was then that he was abandoned by his family and taken into the custody of the local shelter.

The first time I saw Zato listed on Petfinder, something in his eyes spoke to me.  I kept going back and looking at his pictures and re-reading his write up.  I started walking him at the shelter.   And I fell in love.  We had a dog, Thatcher.  Our Amstaff girl was old and getting a bit frail, but we thought he might be a good companion for her since our other dog had passed from lymphoma some time back.  So we took him home.  It was a disaster.  The first thing he did was try and bite Thatcher and when he missed, he nailed Richard’s arm instead.  We tried again to introduce them but the tone had been set, and it just didn’t work.  Richard was going out of town the next morning and we couldn’t have that going on in the house, so we took him back to the shelter.  Richard’s bleeding, I’m crying, and we’re both stressed to pieces.   I am ashamed now that I took him back, but I did.  At that time, I didn’t know what else to do.

I’d like to point out here that it was NOT Zato’s fault. I know we must have done something wrong or given off the wrong energy, because that’s not who he is.  We’ve learned a lot about dogs since then.  By this time Zato had to have been stressed anyway because he’d been in the shelter for a few months.  No one wanted him.  And he had lost his kennel spot due to space issues and had been spending all of his time, with the exception of the occasional walk, in a small crate.

Things were not looking good for this boy. And he was running out of time.

NEXT POST:  A last minute reprieve and a second chance for me.

As I try to avoid panic mode (the vet’s office just called to remind me about our Monday appointment), Zato reminds me that there is nothing to worry about aside from getting our early morning cuddle!  Love that boy xoxoxoxoxo!!!!

Zatoichi (Zato) is a sweet boy who is having his front leg amputated next week because of Osteosarcoma.  He had been limping off and on since May 2016, and we kept taking him to the vet.  He acted like it was his paw and he would get a little better and then worse again. Finally at the end of October, we got the crushing diagnosis :(.  They said he had about 2 weeks to live without amputation and chemo.  Devastated, we researched other therapies and decided on palliative radiation along with Zoledronate treatments.  We figured by the time the pain relief wore off (and he got really good pain relief and the use of his leg back), that the cancer would have spread and we would let him go.  But now his poor shoulder is ready to fracture and hurting again – and the cancer is not showing on x-rays, so we are not ready to say goodbye to this sweetheart!  As you can see, he always has a smile on his face.  We are looking forward to the next phase in Zato’s life and are grateful to have found such a warm and supportive community.

Tracy & Zatoichi