A rescue case, to keep or not to keep

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daphnebs

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I found a dog today, He's a pointer only about a year old and in an absolutely dreadful state. He's severely underweight( skin and bone really!!) he also has bad cuts to his frontlegs, one is badly infected. I found him hidden under a hedge about a mile away from the nearest house. He must have been there for a while as he's absolutely starving the poor thing. Because of the cut to his leg he is unable to walk so I carried him back t my car and took him to my vet immedately. Ofcourse there was no microchip. The vet said he must have been out for a while as he's in such a desperate state, she also said whoever owns him musn't have been looking to hard for him. The area where I found me is quite a popular rough shooting area but everybody knows one another and noone seems to know of the dog missing. I do know of a couple of people that might own him but they certainly wouldn't be the kindest to their dogs and usually just replace lost dogs with another one. So do I go looking for the owner or will I wait and see does anybody come looking for him. I have him at home now and am feeding him every 2 hours to slowly built up his strenght again. He's on antibiotics, electrolytes and extra vitamin supplements to try and speed up his recovery. At the moment he's so weak he's barely able to stand and isn't even interested in one of my bitches who is in heat big time!! I don't mind spending time and money on him as I was gonna take another resue on board anyway. I always have one rescuedog but had to put my last one to sleep a couple of months back(she had a tumour on her lung) I wasn't gonna take on another one until after Christmas but couldn't leave this one, so maybe it's meant to be? Any thoughts from anybody, do I go looking for the owner, or just wait. By the way the vet told me I'd be mad to give it back to the owner as the dog is in such bad condition?!
 
Keep him. No one deserves a dog if they let him get into that sort of state. It breaks my heart when I hear of animals like this. You are his guardian angel it would seem, you found each other! Hope he is feeling better soon.
 
I agree with the vet, last owner has clearly not looked too far, as local vets should have been one of the first points of contact, the danger is, if u seek out an owner, the wrong person could come forward, claiming they own the dog. esp if u say, it's a area popular with gun dogs, shootse e,t,c. like the people u describe, who sound not too nice, they could claim it's there's simply beacuse of it's breed.
You have to been seen to make an effort to look for owner, or hand to dog warden, howver if there is a medical reason and dog needs treatment, and u are willing to take offer a place and treatment for dog to be held, u can take it in, most dog wardens, will refuse to transport an ill or injured animal without a signature from vet/nurse/staff anyway to state animal is fit to travel. and it would not last long in a freezing cold concrete stray kennel facility.

I would contact local police station, even though they dont deal with these issues anymore, people still do contact them, to see if strays have been handed in, do not leave your details, just simply ask if anyone has phoned or left contact re said dog.

Do same with local vets, as when people call in to report their dog missing, vets log the details, again, do not leave your details or explain, just ask if anyone has phoned in, same with stary kennels.

Also look on dog lost forum for requests re lost dog, under the breed and your area.
If nothing, carry on caring for dog, and if places u are contacting or checking show no signs of anyone checking in for their dog, chip and keep
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IMO, if no one has contacted any of these facilities, they have not made enough effort to have said dog back and they did not even bother to chip it.
 
Poor dog. I am glad you found him. It sounds as if he has found a good place to stay!
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I think you should look on the dog lost forum. Just to see if someone has lost him or had him stolen.
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Hate to disagree with everyone else but having lost a dog myself I know how desperately the owners could be looking for him but maybe in totally the wrong area. He may have been missing for weeks or even months and travelled 50 miles or so in that time so although it's great that you found him and are willing to take him on don't discount the fact that he could have come from a loving home. Have a look on www.doglost.co.uk, log in and search the lost dogs for pointers. You could also register him as found, not post a photo so prospective owners will not be abe to provide a description if not genuine and if anyone does claim him present them with a very large vet bill! If they really want him back they'll pay and if they don't then he has a lovely new home
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Keep us updated on how he's doing and good luck.
 
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Hate to disagree with everyone else but having lost a dog myself I know how desperately the owners could be looking for him but maybe in totally the wrong area. He may have been missing for weeks or even months and travelled 50 miles or so in that time so although it's great that you found him and are willing to take him on don't discount the fact that he could have come from a loving home. Have a look on www.doglost.co.uk, log in and search the lost dogs for pointers. You could also register him as found, not post a photo so prospective owners will not be abe to provide a description if not genuine and if anyone does claim him present them with a very large vet bill! If they really want him back they'll pay and if they don't then he has a lovely new home
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Keep us updated on how he's doing and good luck.

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I also agree to contact doglost . I would go out of my mind if my dog ever got lost or stolen.
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I agree with OOTP.........What if he was stolen and then dumped out of the area??

It is also possible that he was once chipped, but the chip has migrated, thus your vet wasn't able to find it.
 
Difficult one. I don't agree that the owners may not have been looking hard for this dog - but agree that local vets would have been my first port of call for a missing pet etc. So perhaps this is not the case.

I have to say in your shoes the dog would not be going anywhere if it were in my possession.
 
I agree with last two posters and am glad someone said this! It is wonderful that someone like you found him and is giving him the care he needs. However, my first thought was not "heartless owner" it was that he may have been stolen, or got lost somehow in another area to your own. Not all dogs remain in the area they came from.

I am really surprised that your vet has also not suggested this, they are usually quite level headed. Just because he does not have a microchip also does not mean he was not loved. Some owners, sadly(!) still think a collar and tag is enough, not realising they become dislodged and lost (or removed obviously if the dog is stolen).

There could be owners out there desperate for their boy back and what a great Christmas present that could be. Alternatively, if he was mistreated and not cared for by some miserable owner who treated him worse than a piece of cheese, I hope they choke on their Christmas Turkey
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I have to agree that it is possible that this dog has travelled a long distance and someone out there could be desperately searching for him. I would definitely contact Dog Lost. If he is not on there then yes I think you would be justified in thinking they had not tried hard enough to find him, and keep him for yourself. A point regarding microchips - my dogs are not microchipped, mainly because of the stories of the chips migrating, and I have found a dog myself that didn't register on the scanner but when we traced his owners he was chipped! However my dogs all have ear tattoos, I am curious to know if you or your vet checked this dogs ear. It seems that scanning is the norm now and many dog wardens etc don't check for tattoos which are a far more visible means of identification than scanning for a chip.
 
I haven't read other posts but my thoughts are to search for the owners and if they can't be traced then keep him, I really think if the owners were that worried there would be lost posters, etc all around. Try looking on dog lost sites etc

He is finally somewhere he can get treated and if you are happy to care for him go for it.
 
Having had a dog stolen late one evening and found dumped 110 miles away just the next morning (he is a JRT who is 15 and hates exercise so not likely to manage that distance in a week let alone a night!)I say look for the owners. I spent three long weeks looking ,crying , praying , anything trying to find my dog . He wasn't microchipped as his previous one had been cut out with a tumour and on vet advice wasn't replaced . Dog lost is fantastic and helped me find my dog . I wouldn't have found him otherwise as I was looking for him in the completely wrong place. He may have been dumped but there could be someone looking at the space on the sofa that is empty and crying every time they see it as I did . If it was your dog someone had found what would you want them to do?
 
I can see both points, which is why, I have suggested and given a list of places to contact, to see if anyone has phoned in re a missing dog of this description, kennels have a 7 day deadline, so if OP had handed it to stray kennels, it would be up for rehoming or possibly gone to home by now depending on how long OP has had it.
The worry is, it could be a numpty who owns the dog, and possibly does not deserve it back, but im sure you will beable to tell when u come to handing over the care bill, as the
The vet bill must be running up to a pretty penny, and the kennel fees alone would be pretty substantial, which you can of course substitute for it being in your home, so if someone does come forward, they are going to have to stump up more than a few hundred pound to the OP to get said dog back.
I know I would not argue, re payment, as long as I got my dog back.

If the dog is indeed out of the area, and has been stolen or travelled far, then im sure the owners would have registered on doglost forum.

Other than what I have suggested in way of numbers and organisations to phone, the OP, can do nothing more than await a call back in regard to someone claiming said dog, as a rescue, we would not hold onto a dog for more than stipulated time, if it was handed to us as a stray, and we call all the organisations I suggested, and I always check lostdog forum.
We check for tatoo's and scan full body for possibility of migration, heck, we cannot even get in contact with people who have bothered to chip, and some we do, say, I don't want it anymore
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In reply to Blanch, I would expect anyone who found my dog, to take to nearest vet, to be scanned, to phone all the organisations I suggested and check on doglost forum, where I would have registered the dog lost, as I did a rescue puppy I lost out of my area a while back, I stayed in area, and posted every single lamp post, bus stop, and put flyers through doors.
I phoned all vets, police stations and rescue centers, every day, twice a day, and I slept in my car in the area....I got him back 2 days later
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I would not however want them to advertise finding the dog, if I had not chipped it, as anyone could claim it b4 I got there, esp as a young pedigree, this is a very common scenario, I would rather they found me, through my vast coverage of contacts and leaving my own details everywhere and my advertising, ....if that makes sense
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Thanks everyone for all your positive responses. Eddie(thats what I named him for now) is recovering well!! He must have slept for about 12 hours solid and is eating and drinking well. I had to go back to the vets as he was crawling with fleas and couldn't stop scratching. He has calmed down now but is still quite nervous, though extremely friendly!!

I will look for owners in the obvious places as suggested by everyone. I have lost a dog before myself and it sure can be hardbreaking. Thank god I found mine about 10 miles down the road happily snuggled up on somebodys couch.

I will be careful in speaking to people as I know too well how many people would pose as owners just to get a cheap hunting dog. I will also present them with the vets bill as you all suggested as this has amounted to quite a bit already.

I will keep everyone posted on our progress, in the mean time Eddie is making himself extremely comfortable and already making friends with my other dogs.

Thanks again everyone
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Just another note.Not sure of the actual rules so it's worth checking out but I think legally you have to report the dog to the dog warden or police and await 9 days before you can keep him, otherwise the owners could pop up at any time and reclaim him and that would be horrible for you. Also you won't be able to post pics of him on here until he's legally yours as it will give any prospective nasty people the description to claim him.....and we need to see new puppy pics.
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Re the microchips ...they are not infallible. My cat was run over and taken to an out of area vet and it was 5 days before I tracked him down. The microchip was just not there anymore, or at least not registering
 
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