Chicharron’s Memorial

AKITA

• From: San Diego, California

• Adopted: Feb 7, 2021

• Crossed the Rainbow Bridge: Sept 3, 2021

Exactly 7 months ago, we rescued Chicharron, a big senior hunk of a dog. He was an Akita/Chow mix with a severe pressure wound on his right elbow.

It was surreal bringing him to the new ranch, as only months before, we had lost everything to the LNU Fire. With so much help from all of you, we were back to rescuing more animals in need.

Cheech had 24 pages of medical notes from the San Diego County dog shelter. He was at the shelter not once, but twice in 2020. For the second time, no one came for him and he spent 5 months at the shelter.

The shelter vets tried their best to fix his open wound. They performed several procedures and sedated him every few days to change his bandage. He came to us with a medical pad sutured to his elbow and multiple medications.

Our vet could see bone through the wound. We had no idea it was that bad, but we were committed to getting it to heal. We took him to the vet 27 times from February to September.

In July, we took Cheech to see Lake Tahoe. It had been so hot in Vacaville, so we took him there to cool off. Being an Akita/Chow, he took on the role of the ranch security guard dog. He watched over everything and everyone. But at the Lake, he enjoyed a day off to just relax and sleep in my lap.

My favorite moment with him. Ever...

Vince would come home and give the big guy massages. It invigorated Cheech to walk more, even as his legs became weaker.

7 months is not enough. And his wound had not yet healed. I'm tremendously sad for that. But at least he was out of the cone!

Cheech was so loved and we doted on him constantly. So we just have to be grateful that he passed away knowing he was loved and he received so much medical care and attention while he was with us.

Thank you for loving Cheech with us.

Cheech’s Story

Everyone please welcome home, Chicharron!

That is his shelter name and we tend to keep our rescues' names, as everything else in their lives has been turned upside down. However, we will call him "Cheech". Cheech came from the San Diego area. Looking through his 30 pages of medical records, he was initially at the shelter on January 1, 2020. What a way to start off a year!

He must have gotten rescued, reclaimed or adopted shortly thereafter, as there are no notes except for his initial intake. Fast forward to September 28, 2020, Cheech once again finds himself at the shelter. He's still dirty and he still has fleas. Both elbows are heavily calloused over with the right one now open and infected.

His elbow is worked on by shelter vets over and over. It's a wound in a difficult spot to heal. It's noted many times how he was becoming kennel stressed with lots of barking and whining.

At some point, a foster stepped in to get Cheech out of the shelter. But he ended up biting her in the calf (did not break skin) and she returned him. As it was explained, it sounded like he was hurting, as he has a sore rear end and she pushed him and he grabbed her calf, not out of aggression but because he hurt.

He's 90 pounds and is actually taller than our big lug Eddy. Cheech is going to need a lot of medical care to get his wound to heal. But we're confident that our holistic vets, Dr. Olm, and Dr. Riddle will be able to give Cheech the much-needed care that he needs. Cheech will benefit from acupuncture and/or chiropractic treatments for his arthritic back and he will probably need additional surgeries for his wound.

Numerous prior owners failed Cheech and we want to make sure he gets the best life now. He's approximately 12 years old and we don't know how much time we have with him. But we will care for him and love him like he's been with us for the past 12 years.

Welcome home Chicharron... you had us at 'WOOF'!