Hello everyone--
For those of you who did not get to read before my post was removed:
My dog was hit by a car on the 4th of July. It was horrible!! Here I had volunteered to stay home over the holiday weekend instead of camping with the rest of my family to save the cost of boarding fees for my two fur babies. I planned on grooming them: trimming their fur, nails, baths--the works. Instead, while I was halfway through trimming the little dog, the big dog spotted a woman walking across the street and dashed into the road to greet her.
The car smacked him with a sickening thud and pushed him about ten feet before stopping. I thought I had seen him killed before my eyes! Instead, he managed to get up and hobble back to the house....
Now I had to find somebody, somewhere who could treat him on a holiday weekend....Numerous calls and I finally found the number for an emergency clinic almost 45 minutes away. Meanwhile, the dog was trying to use a clearly damaged leg (it was flipping and flopping all over the place)--and he was going into shock.
FINALLY get him in the car....FINALLY get him to the emergency clinic...all the while watching for signs that he is not going to make it.
Xrays reveal no internal injuries, no fractures--but a badly dislocated leg.
After xrays and pain medications and IV fluids--I owe the clinic over $1500 AND they were not able to "pop" the dog's leg back into place. My options were surgery or euthanasia...
So I took the dog home to figure out how in the world I was ever going to get another three to four thousand dollars for orthopedic veterinary surgery. I knew I could scrape up some--but the rest....?
I started researching online....I sent emails....I posted donation requests where-ever I could think of posting (That's why my original thread was removed--against cd policy...my apologies to everyone. Thanks to those who sent links to charities--it really helped!!)
Meanwhile, I have this dog at home who is still pluckily trying to get along on just three legs....still wagging his tail....still licking my face....dragging himself around the house trying to stay with me the way he always did. It was enough to break my heart!!
Unfortunately, I discovered that human nature stinks....
People who like to brag to me about how much they have, or how much they do didn't even express a word of sympathy for my dilemma (much less express a willingness to donate something....anything!).
Well, it's just a dog...
I don't know about those people, but I know that I could never live with myself if I turned to that sweet dog and said, "well, $3k is a lot of money old friend--so, you understand...." What's the big payoff? I put a perfectly wonderful animal down, but at least I have some extra money? I would have felt differently if he had suffered life-threatening injuries--or had such extensive trauma that the kindest thing was to be relieved of his suffering.
So what could we do? We spent money we didn't have...knowing full well that we would be short on our bills by the time we reached the end of the month.
My dog got the surgery he needed....AND now he is home and already beginning to walk a bit on the injured leg. His biggest challenge is functioning with the giant "cone" on his head--but since he won't stop licking....it stays on.
The good news...? The surgery went really well. AND the vet bill ended up being significantly less than we were prepared for. So we can have a dog AND food/shelter. Yay!!
The bad news...? I learned that a lot of people that I considered my friends maybe aren't the people that I thought they were. I understand not wanting or not being able to donate--but couldn't they at least acknowledge the terrible time we were having? or offer a word of support? Instead....nothing.
O well....instead of friends, I guess I have a big, lovable furry dog with a "bald-patch" shaved over his hip. Sounds pretty good to me!!
Thanks for listening and for always being supportive.
--DaisyF
For those of you who did not get to read before my post was removed:
My dog was hit by a car on the 4th of July. It was horrible!! Here I had volunteered to stay home over the holiday weekend instead of camping with the rest of my family to save the cost of boarding fees for my two fur babies. I planned on grooming them: trimming their fur, nails, baths--the works. Instead, while I was halfway through trimming the little dog, the big dog spotted a woman walking across the street and dashed into the road to greet her.
The car smacked him with a sickening thud and pushed him about ten feet before stopping. I thought I had seen him killed before my eyes! Instead, he managed to get up and hobble back to the house....
Now I had to find somebody, somewhere who could treat him on a holiday weekend....Numerous calls and I finally found the number for an emergency clinic almost 45 minutes away. Meanwhile, the dog was trying to use a clearly damaged leg (it was flipping and flopping all over the place)--and he was going into shock.
FINALLY get him in the car....FINALLY get him to the emergency clinic...all the while watching for signs that he is not going to make it.
Xrays reveal no internal injuries, no fractures--but a badly dislocated leg.
After xrays and pain medications and IV fluids--I owe the clinic over $1500 AND they were not able to "pop" the dog's leg back into place. My options were surgery or euthanasia...
So I took the dog home to figure out how in the world I was ever going to get another three to four thousand dollars for orthopedic veterinary surgery. I knew I could scrape up some--but the rest....?
I started researching online....I sent emails....I posted donation requests where-ever I could think of posting (That's why my original thread was removed--against cd policy...my apologies to everyone. Thanks to those who sent links to charities--it really helped!!)
Meanwhile, I have this dog at home who is still pluckily trying to get along on just three legs....still wagging his tail....still licking my face....dragging himself around the house trying to stay with me the way he always did. It was enough to break my heart!!
Unfortunately, I discovered that human nature stinks....
People who like to brag to me about how much they have, or how much they do didn't even express a word of sympathy for my dilemma (much less express a willingness to donate something....anything!).
Well, it's just a dog...
I don't know about those people, but I know that I could never live with myself if I turned to that sweet dog and said, "well, $3k is a lot of money old friend--so, you understand...." What's the big payoff? I put a perfectly wonderful animal down, but at least I have some extra money? I would have felt differently if he had suffered life-threatening injuries--or had such extensive trauma that the kindest thing was to be relieved of his suffering.
So what could we do? We spent money we didn't have...knowing full well that we would be short on our bills by the time we reached the end of the month.
My dog got the surgery he needed....AND now he is home and already beginning to walk a bit on the injured leg. His biggest challenge is functioning with the giant "cone" on his head--but since he won't stop licking....it stays on.
The good news...? The surgery went really well. AND the vet bill ended up being significantly less than we were prepared for. So we can have a dog AND food/shelter. Yay!!
The bad news...? I learned that a lot of people that I considered my friends maybe aren't the people that I thought they were. I understand not wanting or not being able to donate--but couldn't they at least acknowledge the terrible time we were having? or offer a word of support? Instead....nothing.
O well....instead of friends, I guess I have a big, lovable furry dog with a "bald-patch" shaved over his hip. Sounds pretty good to me!!
Thanks for listening and for always being supportive.
--DaisyF