Sam is a senior special needs neutered male Shih Tzu, ten years old.   He has a chronic eye infection.

Sam had lived a good life.   He was the cherished "baby" of an elderly couple who loved and pampered him.   He is getting older now and his eyesight is not what it used to be.   There was always a lap to sit on, a friendly scratch behind the ears, lots of kind, sweet words, plenty of good food and fresh water, and a soft bed to sleep on, right between his owners.   His Mom took him to the groomer often so that he stayed clean and fresh and his hair didn't get all matted.

One day his life turned upside down.   His owners, due to health problems, were forced to move into a nursing home.   The home did not allow pets so the elderly owners asked their daughter to take care of their precious Sam.   They moved into the home, confident that their daughter would love Sam just as they had.

That did not happen.   The daughter didn't like Sam.   She made him stay outside whether it was cold or hot.   He didn't have a nice warm bed anymore.   He never got a friendly pat on the head.   If she spoke to him at all, it was to yell at him for something.   She never took him to the groomer and his hair got all matted and dirty.   His hair grew down into his eyes and caused an eye infection.

When Lighthouse Animal Rescue was called to come get Sam, it was in a neighborhood far from the daughter's home.   He could not have wandered there by himself.   But there he was, left standing in the middle of a street, BLIND.   He weighed twelve pounds and was so badly matted and dirty that it was hard to tell what breed he was.

A kind lady called me and I picked him up and took him straight to the vet.   The infection was so bad that his hair had become attached to his eyeballs.   When we got the hair out his eyes, we saw that his eyeballs were snow white with infection.   After many months of medications and nursing back to health, Sam could actually see again!
He had cataracts due to his age, but he could see!

He now weighs twenty two pounds.   His ideal weight is around nineteen or twenty pounds but, after being starved as he was, he would eat his own food and then eat all the other dogs' leftovers.

He has a chronic eye infection and must have drops in each eye every day.   He is a wonderful baby and loves to be loved.