Astro

In August, Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) rescued 12-year-old Maltese mix Astro from the city’s public shelter, where in years past, his age and medical issues would have led to likely euthanasia. Fortunately, APA! now provides a vital safety net for Austin’s homeless pets, including seniors and animals with special medical needs. A generous grant from The Grey Muzzle Organization is helping APA! pilot intake diagnostics for senior dogs in the hopes of providing earlier medical interventions and better adoption prospects. APA!’s Wellness & Triage Medical Clinic identified Astro as a candidate for this pilot, based on his age and overall condition, which meant in addition to routine heartworm testing, he received a urinalysis and blood test. And it was good that he did, because the results pointed to possible Cushing’s disease, an endocrine disorder that affects mostly middle-aged to older dogs. Astro was settling into his foster home nicely when the results came back, so APA! updated his foster family and started a fundraiser to allow for more testing. Astro’s fosters were smitten with this sweet senior and, even knowing he might have Cushing’s, expressed interest in adopting him. Additional testing confirmed the diagnosis, so APA! provided Astro’s fosters-turned-adopters with 20 days of medication to get his treatment started while they got him set up with a private vet.

Thanks to the senior intake diagnostics funded by Grey Muzzle, APA!’s clinic was able to diagnose and start treating Astro’s condition and also had a more complete picture of his health, allowing for better communication with his fosters/adopters. Older dogs tend to wait longer for forever homes—sometimes months—especially if would-be adopters worry that an undiagnosed medical problem will lead to expenses they aren’t ready to take on. Being able to let people know up front about a senior dog’s known or possible medical issues—or clean bill of health—helps people adopt with confidence. And it allows APA! to better connect senior dogs with adopters interested in providing loving homes to older pups or medical needs dogs. Just a few short weeks after Astro arrived at Austin Pets Alive!, his fosters became his forever family, a wonderful outcome for this happy senior!