Last week was a horrible week for all of us at Noah's Arks Rescue. We lost some incredible dogs that had found their forever Homes and were finally getting the Life they deserved. Each loss was felt on a very deep level. Lots of tears were shed, and many hearts were broken. Our saving Grace was looking into the eyes of the animals that were still fighting to LIVE. Those that had yet to be saved and those that were on their way to our Hospitals. In Honor of all the pups that had passed, we picked ourselves up, wiped our tears off and reached for another desperate Soul that no one else wanted. We know they will not live forever, and hope they will live long enough to know unconditional Love. That is our ultimate goal.
Each animal that comes into our lives and passes far too soon teaches us something. Their Journey paves the way for the next animal that is sick and ill. We never stop learning, and we never stop being humbled by our inability to fix everything.
Benny is one of those pups that taught us a lot. We have fixed a lot of broken jaws but have never seen a jaw and mouth that were so destroyed that it was going to take months of surgery. Benny had to have Specialists for Specialists. Based on the injuries Poor Benny had, he appeared to have been kicked repeatedly. Parts of his jaw and the roof of his mouth were crushed. Once his hip surgery was complete, he then had to go to an Oral Surgeon to begin the process of rebuilding his jaw. Every time Benny had surgery the price tag was close to $4000. The bills have been staggering. He had three major surgeries that gave me the hives every time he went under because of the cost. It seemed like the surgeries would never end. Benny's case is every Rescue's Nightmare. I don't know of any other Rescue that would keep going and doing what had to be done until the Surgeries were complete. We rescued Benny to get him well and give him the best possible chance of surviving, and this is what we did.
The best news of all is that we are finally complete with this adorable pups surgeries, and they were a big success. He can now eat without a feeding tube, and his jaw is solid and stable. He is a normal pup that now gets to be a DOG with a loving Family. No more surgery required.
The question I get all the time and one that I have to ask myself when I see another dog similar to Benny is always the same. Given what I know now about the Oral Surgery and the cost, would I rescue another dog that has similar injuries? The answer is definitely YES. If we had not done Benny's Surgeries, we would have had to EUTHANIZE him. His injuries were fixable. It just required a lot of money to get it done but they were fixable, and the results were nothing less than remarkable. You never know what you are getting when you rescue an abused animal. We take the animal and do whatever is required to get them well. We may not be able to take another animal for a while because of the costs, but we never stop treatments because of money.
Benny is a happy pup that loves his new Life and his new Family. He is now surrounded by unconditional love and quite possibly has some of the cleanest teeth ever to be witnessed on a dog. His surgeries have required lots of brushing from us and his new Family. All that is left is paying off his final bills. Please, do whatever you can so we can take on more pups like Benny. He didn't ask to be put in this situation. All he wanted was to be part of a Family that loved him. Benny finally got his Wish and can now live out his natural Lifespan surrounded by unconditional LOVE.
