Help with sick dog? Don't know what to do

[SuzanneSays]

We live in rural countryside abroad, and about a year ago a very sickly shar pei dog turned up on our land. A visit to the vet confirmed many health problems and no microchip. We are cat people, but felt sorry for the dg so took him under our wing, have paid hundreds for all sorts or surgery, vet bills, etc. The cats hate him, but we have grown t have a relatively good relationship-even though he is quite needy and naughty! I had our first baby a few weeks ago, so he is feeling a bIt neglected but literally I cannot physically walk him at thE mo. I have to inject him daily and give various medicines as he suffers from leash and has awful warts all over his mouth, face and now they are spreading to his body. I am feeling really stressed about the baby with the dog, this week alone I found an old wart on the floor and this morning there were blood splatters all over the floor where a wart had fallen off. I am thinking about making him an outdoor dog, he would still get cuddles, walks etc, but just wouldn't let him in the house? What do people think. Am I mean? Sorry for mammoth post!

Sorry for typos-blimmin phone!

Personally I'd look to rehome him. I'm a doggy person but I think you've done your duty here and you won't want to give him what he needs

I do think it would be cruel to put him outside, if you can't manage him and his health problems it would be better to rehome.

frontforward the problem is where we live there are hundreds of abandoned dogs-this is why we kept him in the first place. I will contact some shelters and see what they say, but a sickly, and frankly expensive dog will be hard to re home.

You may be better to contact the breed club who will have people waiting for rehomes or will have foster homes until a new home can be found. That will be better than standard dog shelters.

www.spcgb.org

Hope that helps.

S

schloss unfortunately we're not in the Uk, where we are there are literally hundreds of dogs looking for a home....

So sorry I missed that bit in your original message. A long shot I know but maybe contact the UK Sharpei club, they may know of help abroad?

Apologies again.

S

"He suffers from leash" - as in, Leishmania?

Hi noddingoff yes- leishmania. It is very sad, and one of the sued effects is she has literally 20-30 warts the size of large marbles in and around her mouth that drop off now and then and look like shrivelled cherries. Terrified baby daughter will eat one! Yuk.

If you can't look after him and you can't rehome him then you're only option is to have him put to sleep.

This might be controversial, but a dog that poorly in an area where there are so many other (presumably healthier) dogs needing homes has no future in my view.. Better pts really. The warts thing sounds awful, poor thing. I would, like OP, be seriously bogued out by that with a baby about the place.

If he's sickly not very well behaved and requires a lot of medication daily tbh I think the kindest thing to do would be to put him to sleep. It's impossible to find homes for all the happy healthy dogs In shelters. You did a kind thing taking him in but if he physically can't stay you can't just abandon him outside he's been through enough and won't understand poor thing.

I'd worry about the zoonotic potential in this case and the welfare aspects too.
From one study I found online (just googling Leishmania zoonosis), it didn't appear that humans were more likely to get it by owning an infected dog - but that didn't say if they meant infected but healthy, or clinically ill dogs; I don't know if it was a study from a country which habitually keeps dogs in the house; and I'd be very nervy about a dog sick with leishmania around a baby (infants of any species don't have as good an immune system as an adult).
No matter how good your care, the dog isn't ever going to be cured, is likely to go into organ failure eventually, and sounds like it's probably not having a very happy time now (trying to eat with a mouthful of warts probably isn't much fun).
So I agree that you have done a great thing for this dog, but would euthanase now to spare him from a miserable lingering death and your family from the risk of contracting Leishmania.