Good Thoughts for Lenore and Chase; a Couple of Possibilities for Henry

Two things that merit a mention before Henry:

Mom is really sick. She's thought that she's had a really bad case of the flu. She went to the doctor today because she was having such intense pain in her chest that she thought it was a heart attack. It isn't - it may be pleurisy, pneumonia, or a really intense bacterial infection. We're hoping she can sleep through the night and won't have to go to the hospital tomorrow. She said it was the worst pain she'd ever felt, maybe the same as labor, but labor pains were intermittent and this was every time she breathed. Radiating pain from her chest, down her right arm. Was good to talk to her a few minutes ago - earlier tonight she couldn't talk - she was in so much pain.

My aunt Mary woke up this morning and found copious amounts of blood sprayed and soaked Texas-Chainsaw-Massacre-style all over one of the bedrooms, the hall, the kitchen, and the side of her black lab, Chase. She pressed paper towels against the bleeding ear (which had a tumor in it that he had had surgery on already 2x in the last 10 months) and it soaked through in less than a minute. After surgery #3, Chase is doing fine. At last report, sleeping on the bathroom floor because it is time for him to keep his mom company while she takes her bath.

Today's updates on Henry:

• Basset Hound Rescue of Georgia said they would help me with him if I didn't hear from his owner. Not sure what this means exactly but it sounds encouraging.
  
• A woman in a nearby town wants to meet him and see whether he would be a good fit with her other dogs - a 3-4 year old rescued basset, a 1.5 year old bought basset, and a dashchund. Also 2-3 teenage humans and two parents. Henry might just love that! We're going to meet this week, maybe tomorrow night.
• Meg wisely advised me not to get him neutered until I waited to make sure his owner never showed up (I think there's not a lot of chance of this, but she has a good point - this knowledge of having to keep a dog 2 weeks before he's considered yours may prove helpful after all)
• We walked around the apartment complex a bit this evening, and Henry found several admirers. People love the looks of him and he goes up to everyone he can see and sits and puts his face up to them so that they can love on him.
  
• I realized I've been underfeeding Henry. I've been feeding him about 2x what I feed Maggie (he's 70 lbs. and underweight, she's 45 lbs. and not). But according to the bag, he needs to be getting 2-3x that (yeah, I know, bags lie, but his ribs are seriously poking out), so tonight I gave him 2-3 cups of food, and Maggie was pretty upset about the injustice. I worried that she would try to start a fight with him about his food.
  
• Henry is barking more. He and Maggie are out on the porch right now talking some trash to any dogs that dare to walk by. It's a very deep manly bark and his tail wags.
• He can get up on the sofa! I just walked into the living room and he was getting off the sofa and looking guilty. Good for him for being able to make the climb. I guess he wasn't allowed to in his last house.
  

I almost feel like he's looking for his people - I hope not - I hope I'm projecting - well of course I'm projecting. I wonder if I ought to put some flyers in the mailboxes of the houses near where I found him. No, probably not, because if he had owners who were letting him live in such a terrible state, with hookworm and with his ears so bashed up and bloody - and if these same people aren't willing at least to call Animal Control and say, my dog is missing - then, no, I shouldn't put a flyer in their mailboxes, right?