UPDATE 2/8/2016: King is a happy boy and has had a couple of cysts burst and moles removed but he is doing great. He is still on pain meds and will be for the duration, I expect. He is now 12 and a half, but tail is still wagging constantly. 

UPDATE 3/6/15: King is now 64 pounds and can have neuter surgey. I will be raising funds to cover the cost (between $500-$900). He also needs to have a couple of moles removed at the same time. He keeps chewing at them so they are clearly an irritation and the vet said it might be a good idea. 

UPDATE: Although King has gained more than 13 pounds since I rescued him, he has had a setback and will need continued support because of vet bills and medication...he will need to be on Rimadyl for the rest of his life. The vet said that his hip displaysia was the worst she had ever seen, and that his pain level must have been very high. 

We had such a wonderful weekend out at the lake and then he was feeling good and tried to play with one of my dogs, and I knew his legs were weak, but until this point he hadn't had an x-ray and didn't know how bad his hips really were. He wouldn't eat on Monday or Tuesday and I took him to the emergency vet. 

His bloodwork was remarkably good, but his urinalysis showed a bladder infection and his x-rays and ultrasound showed the severa hip displaysia along with some arthritis in his spine. The worst of all this is that the vet said that you could see where he had a cracked rib in the past and there was evidence of a severe kick and that a boot print was somehow visible. 

His pancreas had a white spot in it and the vet said likely he was starved or malnourished and badly treated most of his life. I felt like my heart was going to break for him. She said she thought he must be in terrible pain, but animals don't often show pain like humans do, because of survival instincts. 

She also thinks he may have testicular cancer because of the hardness of one of his testicles, but luckily there were no markers in his blood or evidence in an x-ray of his lungs. From this point forward, he will be on pain relief, anti-inflammatories, and have a course of antibiotics to clear up his bladder infection. 

I'm also going to give him some warm baths in epsom salts to help his skin issues, followed up by application of coconut oil to his skin. 

I want to spoil this poor guy as much as possible for the time he has left. 

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King was found malnourished, weak and in very poor condition at the East Valley Animal Shelter, where he had languished for two weeks without his owner coming to get him. 

We don't know if he was severely neglected by his owner, or if he was a stray for several weeks, but he wouldn't have made it much longer in the shape he was in.

On top of this, he is a senior dog, and we think he is deaf also. This boy is a standard poodle, but had to be shaved because he was so matted and dirty. 

Please help his foster mom, Amanda Wray, and United Hope for Animals, help King become healthy and happy again.