If every cloud has a silver lining, Jake was having a very hard time finding it. Jake is a 2 year old Basset hound. He had what he thought was a loving family and a good home but life was going to change very quickly.

Jake was left on the side of the road in rural Illinois. Just to be nice, his former owners left him with a bag of food. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell Jake to stay by the side of the road, not the middle. As you can guess, a car hit him. Thankfully, some kind citizens took pity on the poor soul and took him to a vet. He suffered a broken leg, which a surgeon pinned back together as well as treating some Jake's other bumps and bruises. In all, Jake was extremely lucky. If there is a guardian angel looking over every shoulder, Jake's came in the shape of Guardian Angel Basset Rescue. They cared for Jake's medical problems and ensured he had a place to go when the vet discharged him. When his wounds began to heal, Jake went to a loving foster home to repair his broken spirit.

Jake's foster family soon discovered another difficulty. He didn't seem to be house broken. Jake was not a bad dog but he did have a problem: his penis was bent. He had difficulty urinating and usually made a mess. We surgically corrected the problem and Jake was nothing if not ecstatic when he was able to control himself like the big boys. That was another problem solved. Jake's life is not without some bright spots. He was adopted by a loving family - problems and all.

As if life had not been bad enough already, it became worse. Jake's new family brought him in for a routine heartworm test and radiographs of his broken leg. The radiographs revealed his leg had healed enough to remove the pins. However, the heartworm test was a different thing, it came back positive. Remember that Jake had his own guardian angel now. We made two phone calls, one to the new owners and the other to Guardian Angel Basset Rescue. We treated jake for his heartworm disease. After 4 days of blood tests, an echocardiograph, and 2 injections to kill the adult heartworms, we sent Jake home doing well.

Now you would think Jake's trouble would end there - unfortunately not. One week after he went home, Jake returned with a horrible rash on his belly. Thankfully it was nothing serious. He received an injection to stop the itching and we sent him home with some medication.

Jake's story does end happily. When we last spoke with the owners, Jake's rash had healed. He was preparing to go see the surgeon to have the pins in his leg removed. A couple weeks after that, he came back to see us to finish his heartworm treatment. Jake has finally found his silver lining.