
30/07/2025
We are so happy to announce that Pongo and Tia have found their forever home! They came to us back in February as an owner surrender. Their owner had a family tragedy and a family member moved out, leaving the owner on their own to care for them. Their owner just wasn’t able to provide them the care that they needed. They were very worried that they would get split up if they ended up somewhere else, so they made the difficult decision to surrender them over to us.
Pongo (the tri-color) and Tia (the red and white) are littermates and lived together their entire lives. They’re definitely bonded and they absolutely love each other. They’re always together, it’s the sweetest thing. They have very different personalities though. Tia’s the more confident one and she can be pretty strong willed, especially if food is involved. Pongo’s the more timid and nervous one in general, but he’s also the sweeter one and more loving with people. He definitely relied on her for confidence and security. Both of them were very well behaved in their foster home. They came to us quite overweight. Tia was about 27 lbs and Pongo was about 24 lbs. They both needed to lose some pounds to get to a healthy weight. They were put on a healthy diet and they started to get daily exercise. They could also be quite playful and they would play with each other. Their foster home had a resident cat. Pongo did well with her, but Tia was not convinced at first and would chase her sometimes.
Pongo and Tia went to the vet while they were with us to have physical exams done, get updated on their vaccines, and have lab work done. Unfortunately they both tested positive for Lyme’s disease so they were put on a course of antibiotics to treat it. The rest of their bloodwork looked great. Pongo’s urinalysis showed crystals in his urine. The vet was concerned he possibly had bladder stones, so he went back to the vet and had X-rays done. Thankfully, he didn’t have any stones so the vet wanted to just monitor him for now.
Tia’s urinalysis had concentrated urine and an elevated ALP, which is a liver value. The concern is that this could be indicative of an endocrine related issue or another issue like Cushing’s disease or hypothyroidism. We opted to do more bloodwork to try to figure out what was causing her ALP values to be elevated. Her bloodwork showed that her thyroid was good, but that her triglycerides were elevated. This could cause elevated ALP, dilute urine, and in some cases increase in drinking and urination, along with GI clinical signs. However, Cushing’s disease could cause these as well. Since she didn’t have the typical signs of Cushing’s disease and the elevated triglycerides could explain a lot of the signs she was showing, the vet decided to start her on a prescription low fat diet.
Tia went back to the vet for more bloodwork to see if her ALP values changed after being on the prescription low fat diet. Unfortunately, her values were the same. So we did a low dose dexamethadone suppression test to test for Cushing’s disease. This test showed that she didn’t have Cushing’s disease. The vet noted that her cortisol levels were high, so she could be in early stages of the disease process. The vet recommended to just monitor her for now and to monitor her water consumption. One thing to watch out for are signs of endocrine disease. Since her triglycerides were elevated, the vet recommended that she stay on the prescription low fat diet. Otherwise, there wasn’t much to do for her right now.
Overall, Pongo and Tia did wonderful in their foster home. They went on a lot of adventures and enjoyed the outside world. They were getting a lot of exercise and they were getting more fit. They lost fat and gained muscle mass. Pongo was able to drop weight easier than Tia, but they both made a lot of improvement since they first came to us. They really enjoyed being outside and enjoyed the fresh air. They continued to show some leash reactivity when they were on walks together. Tia seemed to be the one that really started it, and Pongo would then follow suit. In general he was the much friendlier one, whereas Tia was more nervous around other dogs.
Pongo and Tia needed a home where they could stay together. They’d do best in a home with no other dogs, but they were ok living with cats. We didn’t do any kid testing with them, but they were around children in their previous home without issue. They’d love to have a quiet home where they could live out their golden years. They needed a family who would keep up with their healthy diets, and Tia’s prescription diet, and regular exercise to help them get to a healthy weight. They’d do best in a home where their people weren’t gone all day long. They were very easy going dogs who just needed a lot of love.
We contacted numerous applicants for them, and sadly no one wanted them. They had several things working against them: seniors, mixes, and a bonded pair. After striking out several times, their foster decided they just couldn’t let them go and wanted to be their forever home. We could not have been happier. They thrived there, and their new family loves them so much. It was so important to keep them together and now no one has to ever worry about that. We are so happy for Pongo and Tia! Here’s a message from their new family:
“Pongo and Tia are doing great. We fostered them for 5 months and it didn’t feel right to let them go. They have both lost weight. Pongo is 20 lbs now and Tia is just under 24 lbs. (our vet says 19-20 lbs is the goal). Their coats have been transformed from a coarse and brittle one to shiny and smooth! Pongo and Tia are happy and healthier, our vet is happy and we are happy. What else could you ask for? They are a wonderful pair and now they can remain together forever.”
Congratulations to Pongo and Tia and their new family! 🐾❤️