Zia has been adopted!
Beautiful Zia is sponsored to wish beautiful Blythe a Happy Valentine’s Day – with love from Eliot.
Zia is possibly as old as 15, but is young in spirit and determination. She is a blind special needs senior girl.. which may sound frail, but she is anything but!
Zia came to us with horrible eye infections, extremely underweight and suffering a skin infection that took a lot of hair off her back end. Thankfully she has an amazing appetite and quickly started gaining much needed weight. Unfortunately her eyes issues were completely neglected and there was nothing we could do to fix them. She underwent a double enucleation to provide a healthier and more comfortable future for her. Since she was blind, it made no difference to her. We are still slowly dealing with her skin, and given her age, it may be that a weekly medication and bath may be required. All in all, her health is great and it seems she has a few good years to look forward to in this second chance at life.
We are unsure what her history is, but we can be fairly certain it was not an enjoyable one. Zia was not house trained, had clearly not been picked up much and seems to have never experienced rain or wind (possibly never having been outside). With some positive training, picking Zia up is much easier.. unless she has other plans, she will let out a … well, quite frankly we could dress this up, but it’s a scream. Full honesty here, she makes two strange sounds.. one is a scream sound when she’s not happy with your actions and the other is an “Eeep” sound that she makes when she can’t find you. Zia is harmless, with no front teeth.. and blind.. so we expect this is her only form of defense when she finds herself being suddenly picked up or forced in a direction that she’s determined not to go. (For this reason we would place Zia in an adult only home.)
Zia’s adopter will need to be understanding of her work in progress when it comes to house training. At her age, it may or may not sort itself out. However, her foster home manages it quite well by taking her out regularly (she does go when she’s taken outside) and limiting water prior to settling in for the night. We expect setbacks when she moves to her new home, but we also are quite confident with a solid routine, she will (at the very least) be manageable.
Her perfect family will also be one that can understand her personal space quirks. She’s not fond of being petted, you can get one or two pets in before she tells you to stop. However, she loves to be near her foster mom and dad. She gets up on the sofa, wiggles under her blanket or climbs onto your lap and snuggles in. She loves her people, in her own independent way. She is always enthusiastic when her people come home from being out. Zia runs to the door, runs around wildly trying to find them and then the dancing and tail wagging begins! She’s a wonderful house companion and a champion napper.
Understanding and acceptance is all that Zia will truly be looking for in her future . We truly have no idea what she’s been through up to this point, but we can make her future better. She’s the real deal when it comes to the meaning of rescue, and second chances.
Follow Zia on her foster mom’s Instagram page at https://instagram.com/fosterdogstories
