Ladybird Animal Sanctuary | Ladybird Animal Sanctuary

Bonnie

STATUS: Adoptable AGE AT ARRIVAL: Approximately 13 years old ARRIVAL DATE: February 28th, 2025 SPECIES: Dog BREED: Westie GENDER: Spayed Female ADOPTION FEE: $0 (what is included?) NOTES: Bonnie's adoption fee has been sponsored by a kind donor.

Bonnie was brought to Hamilton Animal Services when her owner passed away. She’s approximately 13 years old, but still has lots of energy!

When a foster home stepped up, we were able to get Bonnie out of the shelter and into the vet on her rescue day.

Poor Bonnie has a number of medical issues. She has dry eye, which is causing her eyes to be crusty and infected. Dry eye is also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), and it’s a painful condition that occurs when tear glands are damaged. This prevents the eyes from producing enough tears, which can lead to blindness. We’re not sure if Bonnie is completely blind, but it’s obvious she has some visual impairment. She’s been started on a combination of eye drops and medication to help with this condition.

Bonnie’s fur is matted and she had quite a bit of feces imbedded in her fur, as well as urine scalding on her back end. This has caused her vulva to be swollen and infected. Her fur was cleaned up at the vet, and she’s been given an antibiotic to clear up the infection. Urine and fecal samples were taken, and we’re just waiting for those results.

Blood testing came back mostly normal, other than liver values being elevated, and an x-ray showed that her spleen is slightly enlarged. There could be a number of reasons for both of these, but the values were not enough to cause immediate alarm. Both findings will be rechecked at her follow up vet appointments.

Bonnie’s teeth were very rotten, so she had dental surgery on her rescue day. Seven teeth were extracted and her remaining teeth were given a good cleaning. She did great for this surgery, and she is now in a loving foster home where she’ll be given time to recover and decompress from all she’s been through. Thankfully this particular foster family is well versed in fostering senior dogs with multiple health issues, so we are confident that Bonnie will be very well cared for.
We hope that Bonnie can eventually be a candidate for adoption, but we’ll have a better idea after her follow up vet visits.

Welcome to Ladybird, Bonnie! We’re so happy you’re here!

: Bonnie

: Bonnie

: Bonnie

: Bonnie

March 14/25 UPDATE
Since her arrival, Bonnie has been pretty much incontinent. She was leaking urine to the point that she had to wear diapers, which she hated. She got very good at taking them off when her foster family weren’t looking. She’s a smart cookie, our Bonnie!

Further testing showed Bonnie has Cushing’s disease. Cushing’s is a condition where the adrenal glands produce excessive cortisol. Symptoms include increased thirst, urination, and other health issues. Bonnie was started on medication, and it’s already made a huge difference. We hope the longer she’s on the medication, the less urine she’ll be leaking. Everyone cross your fingers for that!

Even with her visual impairment, Bonnie is a very active little girl. She loves to be outside and has lots of sniffing to do when out for walks. She equally loves to nap, and she naps hard.
Bonnie has another vet appointment in a couple of weeks to see where her health is at and if she needs any adjustments to her medication. We hope that her health will get to the point where she can be made available for adoption. She’s a lovely dog, and she deserves a chance at a forever home.

We love you Bonnie!

: Bonnie

: Bonnie

: Bonnie

March 20/25 UPDATE
We’d like to send a giant thank you to Grooming by James for donating their time to groom Bonnie! Bonnie is loving her new look, and she is definitely feeling and smelling a lot better.
Thank you Grooming by James!

: Bonnie after grooming

: Bonnie after grooming

: Bonnie after grooming

: Bonnie after grooming

March 31/25 UPDATE
Bonnie is ready for her forever home! Here’s a note from her foster home:
“Bonnie, Bonnie boo, Bon Bon lives up to her character of being a terrier. She is so darn smart, loves to have a task and loves her walks (although she will put on the brakes when she doesn’t want to go in a particular direction) and barking at any intruding shadows and squirrels. We currently feed her in a snuffle mat to keep her brain busy. She adores any toy that has a good squeak and can be found wandering around the house showing off her toys.

Bonnie isn’t completely blind- she can see shadows, but she has run into furniture and barks at nothing. She loves loves loves her walks- if we don’t get a good 5 km in (with her keeping up to a solid good fast pace) during the day, then she is happy to keep us informed. She also loves to greet us when we come home from work with a happy howl which is also her let’s go for a walk howl. She is definitely getting stronger with her regular walks- she can now jump on furniture.

Bonnie really loves being around people. She is quite often found sleeping between feet, under tables, and generally wherever humans are. She was brought to animal services when her former people passed away. Bonnie has obviously been loved every moment of the day (and maybe a bit spoiled). We are working on her jumping up on us and her happy snaps- she doesn’t want to make contact, she snaps her teeth when she is really happy or excited. She is great with the lab who lives in the foster home and loves to play with him and boss him around.

Bonnie is a terrier and loves to chase the cat in the house. It’s not too much of a problem as she is mostly blind, but her ears and nose work great and she is always trying to track the cat down. She is surprisingly fast for an older gal.

Bonnie can be crate trained but she doesn’t really like it. We have her set up in a room with pee pads so she can spend the day diaper free. She does leak when she is super excited and starts running, so Bonnie gets a diaper when she is running and playing inside outside of her room. She is completely house trained. She has had some leak free days, but they seem to be a hit or miss.

Bonnie has 2 drops for her eyes that need to be given both morning and night. She is also on medication for her Cushing’s Disease and on a dose of trazadone (there is a lot of anxiety when your life is completely unended, but she may be able to be weaned off this once she settles into her new home).

Bonnie is a gem. She is hilarious and is so expressive and so so sweet. She takes her playing and walks very seriously and also her napping.”

Please adopt Bonnie!