GREENVILLE, SC......We get thousands of e-mails daily, each begging for help with an animal. As you already know, we cannot take them all. We wish we could, but that is just not possible. We see Hope where everyone else sees another animal that needs to be euthanized. The other day was no different. The same dog kept coming around in our in-box several times during the day. It was a case where I knew someone would step up. The dog was young, sweet and the capture was very engaging. Several days passed and I decided I had better confirm the dog had been rescued. The answer was a resounding NO and her time had run out. I spun around in my chair and was shocked no one was taking on this sweet pup. I should have kept spinning, but instead, I decided to put the word out that I would take the animal into our Medical Abuse Program if a foster could be found. The second after I hit send, someone was on their way to pick up our newest member of NAR.
Meet sweet Angie. She is a beautiful three-year-old Plott Hound that was found as a stray. She was riddled with Buckshot, could not walk, could not see out of one eye and was terrified. Now please enlighten me. What on Earth would cause someone to decide today was going to be Angie's Last Day to be alive. The World is going to Hell in a handbasket if this is what we have come to. She is the most unthreatening dog around. She is submissive, sweet and loving. All she wants is a PAT on the head and instead she is crippled and blind in one eye and may never walk again.
Angie was taken to our Mr. Wonderful Neurologist, Dr. Bob Bergman at Carolina Veterinary Specialists in Matthew, NC. I am always the passionate one that would stand on my head if I thought it would save an animal. Dr. Bergman is always the calm, practical Vet that I know and respect just for those reasons. He is always the Voice of Reason, and I am always the Voice of Never Give up and do Whatever it takes to save an animal. We make a great Team that saves a lot of animals together.
Because of the metal in Angie's body, we could not do an MRI, so we did a Cat Scan and got lots of good images. They are not as good as an MRI, but they gave us a lot of information. Angie's inability to walk is because of a few pellets that are on or very close to some major nerves. Because of where the pellets are, we could do more damage by removing the pellets, and she could be paralyzed for the rest of her Life. We are allowing the swelling to go down and are doing extensive Physical Therapy to get her up and moving around. We don't want her muscles to atrophy before her body has a chance to recover. Surgery might be her only chance at walking again but not until we get more information and only time will give us that information.
The other issue is Angie's poor eye. We are not sure at this time what exactly has caused her eye to become a cloudy blue color. We see where the pellets are, and one could have caused enough irritation that this is the eyes reaction to it. We have a Specialist that is looking into the cause. The eye does not appear to have any sight or bother Angie. We should know a lot more the first of the week.
What we do know is that we need all the help we can get to help this sweet girl walk again. Please, Donate whatever you can to make this possible.
