The people who found Jason by the highway called him FORHD (Found On Road Half Dead).
Whatever had hit him had fractured his spine, torn off half his tail, and left him with permanent cognitive impairment and difficulty walking more than a few steps without falling over.
A call from out of state asking if we'd consider adopting him so that he would not be put down led to our taking him, once we drove to pick him up, to our local specialty clinic for an exam.
In addition to the trauma's effects, Jason had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, toxoplasmosis, and a painful condition in which his eyelids were turned inward, scraping against his corneas every him he blinked and leaving him barely able to see.
We took him to our local ophthalmologist for surgery to correct his eyelids and to a cardiologist and a neurologists at Tufts and now Jason is feeling much better. A nutritionist at Tufts has put him on an experimental diet to see if that might help his heart condition.
He has become a part of the family of special needs dogs and cats who live in our home.
Here's Jason snuggling with Dharma, an older white dog with an atypical seizure disorder, and Gideon, who was found barely responsive, missing the end of his spine and his tail, and in horrific condition in the woods when he was 6 weeks old:
Jason enjoys the sunlight with Lily, a dog with a history of abuse, malignant mammary tumors, and heart problems, who'd been scheduled to be put down:
Jason shares a blanket and nap time with Gideon and Maggie, whose spine is crooked and whose back legs had once been paralyzed but is now able to to get around pretty well:
Here's Jason snoozing immediately below Linus, an elderly dog who can barely see or hear, whose trachea had been crushed, who'd been scheduled to be put down:
Jason and Dharma spending time together:
Please follow this link to the family of special needs dogs and cats who live as a family in our home.