I would LOVE to take all the credit for finding my best friend, but, to be honest, my wife deserves most of it. She set up a house visit a few days before I decided to surprise my wife and adopt Riley. During that house visit, I knew Riley needed to be in our lives for the rest of his life!
Riley was about 13 when we first met him in November of 2017. This rat terrier – chihuahua mix was abandoned by his previous owner and taken to Providence Animal Center. As you can probably see, Riley has cataracts and is completely blind. His legs are quite stiff due to arthritis. Riley also has no teeth. We were told that the previous owner did not provide proper dental care Riley so about half of his bottom jaw is rotted and there is no bone structure there. This makes eating quite a challenge!
It took some time to figure Riley out! How do we leaving him out with our 4 other dogs as we sleep? How do we feed him?
Well, Riley has the most comfortable sleeping spot in the entire house! He sleeps in our bed with us every night. Did I mention he’s the best snuggler ever?!
As for the food, we first tried taking canned food and mixing it with water to make it like a soup. Riley loved it so much that he was inhaling the soupy food, not only in his belly, but in his lungs too. He is a VERY aggressive eater! This caused a big, big problem. He started coughing up brown liquid (food from his lungs) and he was having major problems breathing. One night it got so bad that I took him to an emergency vet.
The solution was using a nebulizer twice a day with a saline solution. This helped relieve his wheezing and difficulty breathing. The real solution was how we feed Riley. Instead of making a “soup” we make more of a…. hummus. And with a rubber baby spoon, we spoon feed this little, old man twice a day. He still loves to eat and attacks that spoon! But we have no more issues with food in his lungs!
Riley is a happy pup with a family that loves him. Most of the day he loves to cuddle up and take naps. Surprisingly, even with no teeth and part of his jaw missing, Riley enjoys playing with small toys with the energy of a 7 year old! He latches on and tosses them around the room.
