Rescuing a dog is one of the biggest decisions of your life. It's a bigger decision than just adopting any dog. There is nowhere near as much emotion when adopting a purebred, $4,000 dog. Rescuing one dog actually saves two lives, that cute little puppy, and your own.
As rewarding as this decision is, there is more responsibility than you were most likely anticipating. There is always a little bit of baggage that comes with a rescue dog. They have most likely seen some rough things before and are wary if they should trust you or not. Usually, that is the main issue to overcome with a saving a dog.
However, sometimes the issues can stand out and be more of a health factor. That is was what I ran into when I adopted my man, Brody. When I adopted him he had what was a bacterial infection on his nose and paw pads. I was told it should clear up in a couple of weeks with the medicine they gave me. Let's just say that the medicine Brody was on didn't fix the issue, but in the long run led to more.
After a couple weeks of owning him, Brody's skin had broken out all over his body. This was far from what I expected, but he was in a new home and it could have been stress. After a trip to the vet, it turned out to be a bit more than that. For about two more weeks, Brody had been in and out of the Animal Hospital more than twice a week, every week. For a while Brody had all the doctors stumped. They ran cultures and skin samples and blood work. Turns out there was about three things wrong.
Okay, no problem, let's knock those out. It's never as easy as you want it to be. That caused an allergic reaction, which ultimately led to finally figuring out the true problem that Brody has been fighting this whole time.
Oh? You don't know what that is? Me neither. His skin isn't right, that is all I got from that. Well basically, Brody has an auto-immune disease that is causing all of this. The good news is that they believe it to be curable if not manageable for them to take care of.
The only issue with this, is that getting to this step has cost an arm and a leg, not that I ever second guessed doing it. We ran test after test and tried drug after drug to finally get where we are now. Which means more and different medications for my poor guy. Thankfully all the hard work is done and at this point medicines should be all we really have to pay for.
That being said, this whole process has taken a toll on my family and I. I have made a GoFundMe to help us pay for all the procedures and future visits and medications that he will need. I hate asking others for help, especially those I don't know, but it would be greatly appreciated.
Brody has done more for me in the past month than I could ever repay him for. The absolute least I could do for him would be to make sure he lives a happy and healthy life. That is why I need your help. This will be an ongoing issue for the next few months and it is tough enough already to make sure he can get to vet and assure he gets all of his medicines.
Thank you to all who help, and I will make sure I get back to you to thank you personally!
Rescuing a dog is more than you would think. The unknowns definitely out number the knowns, but it is always worth it. Once that dog trusts you, there is nothing in the world that will look at you with more love in their eyes.
