Dog News

Dog Loses Eyes But Gains a Forever Family

by ADMIN

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Wally and Vanessa
Wally and Vanessa

When Wally, a little MiniPin, arrived at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, chances seemed to be against him finding a forever home as he is not only advanced in age but also has no eyes and is consequently blind.

Wally was found wandering around the beach and, when he arrived, looked like he had been cast to play a role in a scary movie. In addition to the cloudiness and redness in his eyes, they were bugged out and had growths in them!  An emergency vet gave the prognosis that he had an untreated eye infection which had ruptured his corneas. The ruptured corneas had caused him to go blind and were so painful that all he could do was shake, scratch his eyes and cry.

As a result, it was obvious that he needed his eyes removed. Thanks to his amazing sense of smell and perfect hearing, he adjusted extremely quickly. However, after he had recuperated, he came down with a backward sneeze that caused him to constantly regurgitate, making it difficult for him to gain weight and absorb nutrients.

Another vet visit revealed he had MRSA (a kind of Staph infection). Thankfully, it was treated and he recovered quickly, though the backward sneeze remains with him to this day, causing him to puke once a day and giving him pretty horrible breath.

So, all of these things seemed to be working against Wally finding forever love. Who wants to adopt an older dog without eyes that pukes every day and has horrible breath?!

Wally making friends
Wally making friends

One volunteer, Vanessa, had seen Wally in her duties as a dog walker for Muttville but she had not really noticed him closely. Then one weekend, Wally’s foster mom asked Vanessa and her husband to watch him for the weekend while she was out of town. They never expected to have him steal their hearts but that is exactly what happened!

That weekend turned into a week, a week into a month, and a month into forever. They started out by fostering Wally through Muttville but quickly realized they could never part with him. Since then, Wally has become their heater box, snuggle buddy, secret holder, conversations starter, heart warmer, guard dog and anxiety reliever.

And the other amazing thing is how much Wally can do. He doesn’t even seem to need his eyes! He takes walks on a leash, jumps on the couch, finds his bed, chases birds, plays with other dogs at the park and does many other activities that you would think unattainable being blind. He is a little miracle dog!

While it is true that he has been known to pee on a complete stranger’s shoe because he confused it for a rock or tree, and it is also true that he has severe separation anxiety that makes it impossible to leave him alone for much longer than an hour or two, yet he has stolen Vanessa and her husband’s hearts and filled them with so much joy. As Vanessa puts it:

“…Sometimes I think our hearts may explode rainbows and butterflies!”

Wally Instagram Walterjbird
Wally at the beach

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Muttville is a nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the way the world thinks about and treats older dogs, aged seven years and older, and to creating better lives for them through rescue, foster, adoption, and hospice.