About Loretta

This sweet gal wandered on property on Saturday afternoon near Shelby Forest State Park. It was rather obvious by her demeanor that she was, at some point, somebody's beloved pet. She's rather thin, has severe infections in both eyes, was covered in ticks, has ground down all lower front teeth, both canines have been broken, has massive scarring around her nose as well as ears, and has a large growth on her front leg. We've been feeding her small increments since we have no idea how long she's gone without healthy meals, as to not upset her potentially fragile system. We also thoroughly bathed and removed nearly 40 ticks from her. The poor thing constantly scratches at our front door, as if she knows to go inside a home, but I simply cannot put my other pets at risk. I was able to get her into my vet on Monday. She is heart worm positive and she has a corneal ulcer as well as entropion. The vet said she is in good spirits and is actually rather healthy, aside from those issues. We've agreed to start the heartworm medication and antibiotics for her eyes. I know that our vet said there is hope the antibiotics will fully treat the eyes but realistically, she may require surgery at a later time. We are, unfortunately, not the best environment to restrict activity while she is on the heartworm treatment. We currently have four kids, six chickens, two guinea fowls, two goats, two cats, a dog and a bird. She was microchipped and the owners were contacted. However, she was extremely rude to my vet, yelling that she didn't want the dog so my assumption is that she was dumped in the country from her home in Orange Mound. I have been speaking with Memphis Rottweiler Rescue and she is willing to help, but she has a high risk dog undergoing chemotherapy in her home at this time. She simply cannot bring another dog in so it's imperative we find a foster home. She has actually been around my dog, both cats, and the bird. Plus, we took her on a leash near the pen with our chickens, guineas and goats. Honestly, she was not even remotely interested in any one of them - which certainly made me more comfortable about her being here in the meantime after my goat was recently mauled by two stray dogs that came onto our property. She allowed my dog to smell her and was curious about him for only a moment, but she simply wanted to be near one of us instead. She genuinely just wants affection. She has been so very docile, even during her bathing and tick removal. She doesn't jump and certainly gets excited over attention for a moment but then, quickly just lays at your feet. She spent most of the day on Sunday in the back of my boyfriend's truck and just watched him doing yard work. She also loves to ride in the truck already and remained in the backseat, to simply enjoy the ride. Her favorite, so far, seems to be playing fetch with the tennis ball (which we've now had to stop due to the heart worms) - and that is the only thing she's had any desire to chew, besides food that is. From what we've observed, she's truly a well behaved, loving dog with the most amazing temperament.

Shelby County
Millington, Tennessee 38053