Benji, an adorable Golden mix puppy, is now residing with his adopters who said: We were on the list to adopt an older dog when AGR asked us to foster a sick puppy that was quarantined from other dogs. We haven’t wanted a puppy, because I don’t have the time to devote to it. After two days, [my wife] decided she wanted to keep him and would devote the time it takes to constantly keep track. When Benji got to our house he was not responding to his name so we changed it to Wilbur.

He was rescued at 3 months of age from Pima County Animal Control in Tucson where he was deemed unadoptable due to being born with juvenile cellulitis, a.k.a. puppy strangles. By the time we picked him up, he had developed kennel cough (bordetella) and tested positive for canine parainfluenza. He was also limping on his left forelimb. He was started on doxycycline and prednisone at the shelter; we continued that treatment and added marbofloxacin. He has now recovered, although still being treated for the puppy strangles, which can cause lots of different problems. Puppy strangles is a result of an immune malfunction. The skin, especially on the face, becomes infected with deep sores. These sores can become so involved that they reach the lymph nodes of the neck. This neck area swells with hard knots under the jaw until it looks like the baby dog will strangle – hence the name. Hopefully, the long-term effect will be nothing more than his snout looking like it has freckles.