It’s our job to educate but it is never our job to judge, so please keep that in mind while reading the following.
A woman came in to our shelter last Tuesday morning, frantic and concerned about her dog whom she believed had been in labor for four days. She had tried to seek help, but with no money she was unable to. Although the Lenawee Humane Society is not an emergency clinic and we are not financially able to help every person who cannot afford emergency care (in which case we refer all people in need to local veterinarians), this was a matter of life and death and we couldn’t sit by and do nothing. Our mission is to save the lives of animals while enriching the lives of humans, and we believe we’ve done exactly that.
After a brief conversation with the dog owner and our veterinarian, Dr. Sumner, the decision was made to have the woman bring the dog in to see how we could help. We explained to her that more than likely she may lose her dog and the entire litter of puppies, and while we would do everything we could, there would be no guarantee that anyone would survive – however, it was better than doing nothing and allowing the dog to suffer.
When the dog arrived, she was very lethargic and appeared to be in shock. Dr. Sumner went to work immediately. As luck would have it, one of our former veterinary technicians was in the area and had the day off so she immediately came in to lend her help. Their fears of septic shock turned out to be real as Dr. Misty delivered four babies, one week premature with extremely faint heart beats. Our staff worked diligently to bring the babies to life, finally succeeding with one of them.
While there is one lone survivor, he still has a ways to go before he’s out of the woods. Our veterinarian and our staff have taken turns working around the clock to care for this tiny fighter, and a staff member’s dog (a previous LHS resident) even donated blood to give him the antibodies he needs to survive without his mother being able to nurse him. The mother still remains in grave condition but so far, she is fighting too.
It’s easy to get caught up in the sadness of a situation, especially with the mom still fighting for her life. We’re able to get through each day by finding the silver lining though, and in this case, we look forward to celebrating the premie puppy’s one week birthday tomorrow.
Needless to say, this entire situation is draining resources. This is now where we turn to you and ask you to help us with our mission of saving lives. We never gave up and we hope you won’t either.
