Toddles

Toddles is a tiny Chihuahua who was much loved by an elderly neighbour of one of the PAWS team but sadly this lady passed on and the remaining family member in the home felt unable to provide Toddles with the best home as he went out most days. Toddles spent most of his life either sitting in his mum's lap or in bed with her when she became ill and before that went pretty much went everywhere with her (he cries when left alone in the house). Toddles and Betty were very well known in the neighbourhood and Toddles was often seen sitting in the basket of the bicycle as they cycled around town. Toddles is a very delicate little boy and as you can imagine has been rather spoilt! He is currently in foster care with three other small dogs and three cats and pretty much ignores them all but is rather possessive of his bed and his food. Toddles doesn't like another pet coming near them but this is only problematic because he in foster care with two blind dogs and will let them know he is unhappy about them getting too near his bed or meal even if they are more than four times his size! Toddles is fed twice a day and a VERY slow eater (but that is not surprising as he has very few teeth!) so can take up to an hour to eat his meal. He is very fussy about his food and was used to being fed whatever his mum was eating so both wet and dry dog food is pretty much a no-go zone. However, since being in foster care, Toddles has eaten Nature's Gift canned food and 4 Legs meatballs so is expanding his menu a bit. His favourite food is similar to a humans ..... hamburger, roast chicken, chips or stew but bread and butter is right at the top of the list too!. He was occasionally given a Maccas cheeseburger as a treat but now gets his own custom made burger with grated veggies, rice and other good stuff instead. In fact, you could say that Toddles is looking for a home where he will have his own personal chef! Everything does have to be cut into very small pieces and spread out on a large plate as he likes to 'inspect' his food and move it around the plate then eat all the 'acceptable' bits first, coming back to the rejected pieces later on. Toddles virtually stopped eating when his mum Betty went into hospital and weighed less than 1.8 kilos when taken into foster care but is now a good weight at 2.2 kilos and his ribs can no longer be seen. He has days when he fasts totally and sleeps so will not eat anything for about 24 hours but then makes up for it by eating a good deal the next day and, if he is hungry, will stand in the kitchen when you're working there to let you know. On his fasting days Toddles is given Nutrigel (which he usually enjoys) and often licks it off the spoon but otherwise it can be syringed into his mouth. One of Toddles idiosyncrasies is that he likes to be completely buried under his blankets (click on photo) when he's in his bed and will spend ages trying to get under them if they have been crumpled up. In those cases it's easier just to cover him up yourself! Toddles has had a recent blood and urine test to see if there was any medical reason for his occasional fasting but was given the all clear for kidney disease. However at the time he was diagnosed with a low grade heart murmur but this does not require medication at present. Ideally Toddles will be adopted by an older lady who wants a constant companion but has family support to help look after him if necessary but this is not essential. He would be very unhappy in a home with young children as he is very delicate and would not cope well with a noisy or boisterous family. Toddles is very much a house dog and is house trained if he has access to an open door (he does not use a doggy door) so, if this was not available, he would need to be taken outside to toilet. Toddles has a history of bolting when he gets a fright so needs a secure yard and should not be walked off lead. However as he will not walk ON lead he would need to be carried whenever outside the home.