It was Veterans Day morning when my telephone rang with another extremely sad story.  A kind hearted elderly woman was calling to tell me about two abandoned dogs she had been feeding that had recently shown up in her neighborhood.

“They were a bonded pair of street orphans - they were always together,” she said.  One of them was a tiny matted Shih-Tzu that she very sadly informed me had just been struck down and killed by a car.  She described the other dog as a very skittish ‘Pit Bull Mix.’  Just the night before, she had managed to lure this remaining dog into her garage with some food.  She told me she thought that this dog had also been hit by a car because he had a severely injured front leg.

“Can you help him?” she asked.  “He’s just too big for me to handle by myself, and he really needs a new friend right now.  I don’t have much money, but I can give you $20 towards his medical care.” 

And soon, I found myself parked behind her garage.  I expected to find another abandoned, injured Pit Bull emerge from it.  Instead, I saw a battered, traumatized, face-scarred, limping, starving, Shepherd/Rottweiler mix timidly hobble out of her garage.  I knew immediately that his left front leg was in bad shape – he couldn’t put any weight on it at all.

And soon, he allowed me to pick him up and put him into the back seat of my truck. And now, off we went to get him some much needed medical assistance.  He was a little shy in my truck at first, but eventually he squirmed his way up into the front passenger seat. And now while I drove, he smothered my face with kiss after kiss after kiss of gratitude for helping him.

As we now traveled along together, I thought about naming him ‘Scarface’ – this poor guy had several deep scars on his face and head.  Then, remembering that it was Veterans Day, I decided to name him ‘Vet.’  He, like far too many of our valiant veterans today was beat up, battle-scarred, and severely injured.  He had also just lost his best friend in the world, and he was homeless.

Once we arrived at the animal hospital, he refused to take his face out of my lap, and he continued to shower me with kisses.

‘Vet’ weighed in at only 40 pounds, and the veterinarian estimated that he’s only about a year or two old. Of course, he hadn’t been neutered, and he had no collar, tags, or microchip.

His injured leg was soon x-rayed, and very thankfully, no broken bones were found.  He does have some nerve damage in his left front leg; but hopefully with medication and massage therapy, he’ll soon be walking on it again.

I went to fetch ‘Vet’ from the animal hospital yesterday morning, and he’s already feeling a lot better.  He’s now been neutered, vaccinated, micro-chipped, and given a much needed flea bath.  And on the trip to his new foster home, he once again began showering me with numerous wet kisses of thanks and gratitude.

‘Vet’ truly had needed a new friend after losing his best friend to the mean city streets.  And thanks to the kind hearted elderly woman who had taken pity on him, he will now have a second chance at a much better life.

©November 2012, Ed Kostro

 

» Read More Rescue Stories

Will You Help Rescue Others? You'll LOVE Our Work! Before: scheduled for euthanasia at the pound. After: His new family has a huge backyard!