Unadoptable Howie?

This is what I get for missing a phone call. The message from the vet said that this time, Howie had a different kind of crystals (oxalate) in his urine, ones that are caused completely by diet, so we needed to take him off the special food and bring him back in 3 months for another check. No mention of the first kind of crystal (struvite). That was the voicemail.
The vet did talk to the rescue, and the email I got from them was a little more worrisome. According to them, Howie has both kinds of crystals, and he should be checked at the end of June and then every three months after that (to make sure the crystals don’t turn into bladder stones).
And the upshot of this is, that between the possibility of bladder stones, the heart murmur, the deafness, and being 12 years old, the rescue doesn’t think Howie is adoptable through traditional means. In other words, we’re not going to take him to an adoption event and find someone willing to take on a dog with this many health problems.

Look at this sweet face

Now, before anyone starts to get worried, with Old Dog Haven, the decision that Howie is unadoptable only has one effect. We go from being his foster family to his final refuge home. It’s a name change, nothing more. Howie stays with us. ODH continues to pay for his vet care. I expect that means he’s with us for the next 3-5 years, unless something unexpected happens. And at that time, we, along with guidance from ODH, will make the final decision in exactly the same way we would for any of our pets.
The thing is, I do not believe Howie is unadoptable. I need to double check with the vet and clarify when he needs to be brought back in for a check.
We have changed his diet off the prescription C/D food and to half chicken and rice kibble, half boiled chicken and brown rice. (We’ve done this short term before, when June has had tummy troubles and when Howie first came to us, as he had been returned to the shelter due to tummy issues.) Supposedly this is a bland and easy to digest diet. Don’t tell the dogs. They LOVE their chicken and brown rice.
Anyway, I’m hoping that being on this diet will get rid of the oxalate crystals, and I think that the struvite crystals are actually already gone. If that’s case, he should no longer need the every 3 month monitoring.
Yes, Howie has a heart murmur, but we’ve never really seen an effect of this. Yes, it takes a lot less for him to tire out at the dog park than the other two, but he’s 12. They are 3 and 4. That’s not the heart murmur, that’s age. And for the same reason, this summer we’ll work on leaving him with roomie J sometimes when we go to the dog park (he hates being left behind), or just keep him on a short leash while we’re there.

Does this look like a dog who lets a heart murmur stop him?

Yes, Howie is mostly deaf. That means that he can’t be off leash in large open areas. It means that I can’t call his name and have him come running, but he is hugely responsive to body language and light tugs on the leash to get his attention.
He remains absolutely fascinated with the world around him. He loves to look and sniff and explore. Meeting other dogs is the best thing ever. When Larry and June decide there is something out the window to be barked at, he wants to see what it is and join in.
Howie is also a total cuddle bug. While he does sleep most of the night in his little bed in our room, he almost always starts cuddled up with me, until my tossing and turning, or in the case of last night, coughing, bugs him too much and he goes to his bed. When we’re up and moving around, he follows us. When we’re sitting, he wants to be on the couch next to us, or at least have a head in our lap.
This is a little boy with a lot of life and a ton of love left in him. And I would love to help him find a forever home of his own. (Perhaps one where there’s no Larry to get territorial with.) I mean, I will happily keep him as long as he needs to stay, and it’s not like I love him any less, so he’s not really deprived staying with us. But still, I’d love to have someone else fall in love with him and want to take him home. After all, that’s what we got into fostering to do.

While he is not adoptable via traditional means, that doesn’t meant ODH would not adopt him out, as long as they were certain full health disclosure had been made. But they expect that would come through people meeting him otherwise. So, if you know anyone in the greater Seattle area, who is looking for a sweet, calm, older dog…