Pet of the week: Nina

AUSTIN (KXAN) - ID # A608532 Kennel #199

Sweet Nina was brought in when a neighbor noticed she was being neglected in her back yard. The elderly owner was simply no longer able to care for her and the source felt sorry for her and brought her in. We are guessing Nina is about 4 years old and is the most gentle dog I have met in a long time. She is obviously depressed here but I think once she feels the love and attention she deserves again she will truly blossom into a terrific dog. She is a lab mix (maybe with beagle?) but she is only 30 pounds. Her coat and skin are just generally unthrifty and patchy, no doubt due to eating the cheapest less nutritious food on the market. It looks like fleas may have given her some trouble in the past but now that she has been treated, she should feel MUCH better. Her previous owner indicated she is relaxed around kids and other dogs and even cats, although , as always, utmost caution should be exercised when introducing her to new things. She is undoubtedly under socialized and will need a foster willing to be patient and work with to help her understand new things don't have to be scary.

She is now spayed but she is also heartworm positive. Due to the current shortage of heart worm treatments we are experiencing state wide, the best we can do for her is to make sure she gets her heartworm prevention regularly, and we will of course provide that. We don't order food for the adult dog program since their needs are so typically different from dog to dog so a high quality food (possibly one formulated for skin health) would need to be provided by the foster.

She will go home spayed, chipped, vaccinated and with heartworm prevention and "dressed" with a collar, tags and leash.

This girl has had such a rough go of it so far, let's turn her life around. Her ID number is A608532 and she is currently in K199.

Here is her video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON5kIuI13Sc