November is the month of good harvest. Our harvest of mutt friends grows larger every day as we build our mutt guardian piggy bank and get more fellow mutt guardians like you to sign up and donate monthly. Did you know that we are very close to our goal of 750 mutt guardians for 2015? Won't you help us reach that goal by spreading the word and making our fall harvest the best ever? Maybe you might even consider increasing your monthly donation?

Since we are talking about "herding" all our Mutt Guardian family together to help us meet our goal, we would like to feature a special Aussie boy. Bear is an Australian Shepherd red merle who came to us in very rough shape.

Bear was surrendered to San Francisco Animal Control and we do not know much about his past. All we know is that we took one look into his eyes and we fell in love.

Bear came to Muttville severely underweight, anemic, had no fur, a bad ear infection, a heart murmur, skin growths and bad eyes. His treatment which much exceeded our average cost of $1,200 was possible thanks to you!

Bear's heart murmur means that his heart has to work harder than normal to pump blood which needs to be monitored regularly. He was also found to have a condition called KCS in both of his eyes. This means that his eyes do not produce enough tears naturally. We have started him on lifelong eye medications. His severe skin infection and ear infection is most likely resulting from neglect and a previous flea infestation. We have treated him with flea prevention, antibiotics, and medicated baths. He was also found to have numerous skin masses which have been tested for cancer and came back negative. Yeah!

Bear is well on the road to recovery. He has been a trooper through all his treatment and is so happy with his foster parents who take care of him while he recovers. His foster family had this to say: "When Bear first came to our home he was weak and shy, but now he walks with his head held high, tail a-wag, and a happy little trot. He loves eating five meals a day to get back to his target weight, and is a champion napper!"

By the way, a little bird told us that Bear's foster parents are madly in love with Bear, so we think that he has already found his forever happy home!

Sherri Franklin
Executive Director
Muttville Senior Dog Rescue

because it's never too late for a new beginning
www.muttville.org