Thursday, December 17, 2015

The Worst Dog Injury We Have Ever Seen

Sometimes, you just refuse to give up.

It took Equeria weeks to get the scruffy brown dog to trust her.  She would leave food out for him, then watch him scatter if she tried to get closer.  Maybe you know the feeling.  You see a hungry little face with darting eyes, and find yourself determined to see that first wag of a tail.  

Once he decided to call her friend, she gleefully brought him into the house and named him Chocolate.  And even though Chocolate was coming out of his shell, he still had a long way to go--fear and trauma don't heal completely overnight.

Over the weekend, Equeria's kids had some friends over, and as the sounds of children having fun sometimes do, they spooked Chocolate and he darted through the fence.  He chose a poor space to escape though, because there was a piece of metal sticking into the gap between the poles.  Chocolate was torn down the whole right side of his body.

Equeria loaded him into the car and took him to her vet.  The vet could see the damage; could see the air coming in and out of the opening in his chest cavity, and told her Chocolate needed to be euthanized.  Equeria looked down at her scruffy, injured friend.  She had worked too hard for his trust to break it now.  She said, "No", and loaded him back up in the car.

The next vet she went to told her something similar.  Again, she said, "No", and loaded him back up in the car.  Equeria refused to give up.

As a last resort, she took him to Dallas Animal Services to see if there was anything they could do--anywhere to tell her she could get help.  And they did.  They called a group called Sponsor Adoptions to help the single mom find a vet and funds to save Chocolate.  She took the last $250 out of her checking account, and they started an online fundraiser to cover the rest.  They also called us at Mazie's Mission.

Dr. Shults had never seen an injury like this, even in her practice that specializes in taking animals with special medical needs.  She wasn't sure if she could save him, but she also refused to give up.  It took her hours to carefully stitch up Chocolate's right side and place drainage tubes, to suction the fluid out of his chest cavity.

Chocolate is alive today because so many people refused to give up.  Funds are still needed to cover the (greatly discounted) cost of his treatment.  If his story has touched you and you would like to donate, the link to his fundraiser is here:

https://www.youcaring.com/sponsor-adoptions-veterinarian-487161 

Due to the graphic nature of Chocolate's injuries, we have chosen to only show the ones after he has been stitched up, and at the bottom of this post.  So if you want to see them, you can keep scrolling.

The cooperation between Dallas Animal Services, Sponsor Adoptions, and us illustrates the best of what can happen when we all work together.  We take our responsibility in this community seriously.  Thank you for reading, and as always, thank you for your support.