The beginning of the story:
Jayanta was rescued on Sunday, June 1, 2003. I was told
he was thrown from a truck sometime in 2002 in Thousand Oaks, California.
He ran into the woods, and some riders from a nearby horse farm worked
for about one week to catch him. That was the "story." Then
variations popped up that he was seriously injured, or not injured at
all.
The described him with so much affection and claimed to have had him vetted after his "car accident" and that had no injuries.
Then named Edgar, Jayanta lived on an equestrian
facility for one year. The public nature of the boarding facility did
not "suit" him. Being a shepherd, Jayanta was very protective
of his home. So then Jayanta was moved up to the proprietors house where
he stayed until the they contacted BSCA
Rescue. They were interested in finding a new home for "Edgar."
I went to identify him as a Belgian Sheepdog for BSCA as the coordinator at the time was not convinced based on his photos.
He was surely a Belgian, probably from the Segister lines. I noted he
was off in his gait and was either wounded in his car accident, or displastic.
I was assured by the owners that he had no hip problems and that the
vet had given him a clean bill of health. At the time my purpose was
only to identify the dog, not consider him for placement in my home.
I did not view Jayanta at his house, rather at a meeting place near
the freeway. This was a mistake on my part, and partially my own choosing
as I find dogs more open to "meetings" when away from their homes.
As I drove away, I had a strange feeling...as
though I'd been blessed by some gentle loving spirit. I felt this feeling
all day and kept thinking about this dog known as Edgar. How similar
he was to my own dog Kylie. About a week later, I phoned the owners
and told them I was interested in Edgar, but did not have the facilities.
I told them if they didn't find a home for him, I'd take him when I
had new living arrangements. 4 months later, "Edgar" had still not been
rehomed, so I went to pick him up. He seemed a bit worse for the wear,
and I noticed the owner put him in my truck for me. He was also very
anxious, apparently upset to be away from the house (I met them at the
barn this time).
Edgar was very emotional and panicked that first
24 hours. When I reached my house, I opened the tailgate of my blazer,
leashed Edgar and invited him to jump out. To my horror, his left hind
leg twisted in the most grotesque way and he fell sideways coming out
of the truck. I grabbed him mid-air (all 87.5 pounds of him). I was
sickened that I'd been mislead about his condition. I'd inquired numerous
times about his hips and been told he'd been vetted as normal. He was
clearly not well.
Later, I opened the front door to put some
freshly unpacked boxes outside. Out Jayanta trotted. He wasn't able
to move fast, but as I called him, there was no response, not even a
flicker of the ear. I caught up to him and grabbed his collar. The surprise
in his face was the giveaway. He couldn't hear. More horror on my part.
I phoned my friend Teri, the BSCA Rescue Chair at the time. I was crying,
"I can't keep this dog, he needs serious medical attention and money,
and he can't keep up with me and Kylie!" I felt horrible. I envisioned
him as being more appropriately the old farm dog who stays home and
guards the roost whilst the young dogs work the livestock. Not the "get-up-and-go"
kind of dog that Kylie was, always heading to herding or hiking with
Mom.
That night, I pulled out my dog brushes and
went to work on Edgar. The previous owners told me they had taken him
to the dog bath and bathed hime and spent hours working on matted fur.
They said they had clipped some of his hair, to remove mattes. As I
began brushing line by line of hair, I had more horror in store. There
were hundreds of foxtails embedded in his flesh, festering and bloody.
That's when I knew Edgar was shaking his head because there were foxtails
in his ears, and maybe why he couldn't hear. His previous owners had
told me the vet had checked his ears and they were fine. There were
foxtails in every inch of him...not just the legs and underside as in
a dog running through foxtails, but embedded around his seat bones and
rib cage and neck, indicating he'd been lying in a bed of foxtails.
I phoned the veterinarian on Jayanta's Rabies
certificate. The vet never saw him and never treated him...he simply
received a vaccination from the technician.
The following Wednesday, I took Jayanta to his
first veterinary appointment. He did in fact have foxtails in his ears,
right in the eardrums, and would have to stay overnight to have them
removed under anesthesia. There would be no money for xrays to address
his hip problem. Also apparent was a stiffness in his neck and a slightly
roached back, and atrophy to the haunches. Dr. Hicks said it could be
arthritis or hip displasia. We also ran a senior blood panel. The following
morning I picked up Jayanta to learn his blood test showed early stages
of Kidney Failure. The picture was getting worse. He was crying so much
and seemed so miserable, I was contemplating putting him down. I wouldn't
have him suffer any more than he already had.
A few more days went by, and I noticed Jayanta
had more movement in his body. He would now roll and scratch his back.
Clearly he was happy to be rid of the "nails" in his body. He would
give me moments of hope and moments of dispair. I had him visit with
Laila, a holistic practitioner, and in muscle testing him for his inventory
of ailments, it seemed that most of his problems would be healed with
proper diet. He let us know he did in fact wish to live, despite his
pain. I did buy a case of the Kidney Diet commercial food, but felt
very bad about it. I went to work right away researching how to modify
a raw diet to the kidney disease patient. I was referred to www.bowchow.com
by a fellow subscriber to the rawfeeding chat list (yahoo groups).
Jayanta is the name I gave Edgar because of
the spirit with which he carries himself. Jayanta is a Sanskrit name
meaning "victorious" and is also a name for Lord Vishnu, the creative
aspect of God. Jayanta is also the name of a friend of mine who is elderly,
and who, like Edgar, has hip and back problems. Jayanta the person is
very sage-like and leaves people with a sense of having been blessed.
Since I saw this in Edgar, and wanted the world to greet him with kindness,
not giggles over his name, I changed his name to Jayanta. To those who
know him he is still often referred to as Edgar, or Uncle Eddie.
Jayanta had a second veterinary visit with Dr.
Van Cise in Norco for a holistic assessment. In addition to Reiki, homeopathy
and traditional medicine, Dr. Van Cise practices Accupuncture. On this
day, Dr. Van Cise felt that Jayanta's largest problem was a lack of
recovery from trauma. This included the state of his kidneys. He gave
Jayanta an accupuncture treatment, an LM potency of Arnica for trauma
and an 8 pill per day regime of Dismutase. He recommended ongoing accupuncture
to assist in his healing. Jayanta builds muscle and improves in health
on a daily basis. His progress is visually evident.
They in fact held him for me for several months before I was able to actually take him home. I believed that he would be as they described and that he would be a nice addition to my family and would enjoy herding sheep along wiht my other dog, Kylie.
However his arrival painted a new picture. Jay Jay couldn't hear and had no strength in his haunches. His initial veterinary examination revealed kidney desease, hip displasia and signs of past fractures of the neck and ribs. He was unable to hear do to foxtails in his ear and the resulting infection. He had foxtails embedded in his skin all over his body.
This all sounds very dire, however Jay Jay has gone on to have four wonderful years with me, although expensive ones. I initially tried to rehome him to someone who could financially maintain him, however there were no volunteers. I then was able to raise a significant amount of money for him through this page. The major contributors were the Belgian Sheepdog Club of America and Terri Meredyth.
Modified 01/15/07
