Our New Buddy

All cozy and comfy at home

     In my professional life as a veterinarian for 28 years it has been my pleasure to have known a bunch of really good dogs. I cherish the memories of so many special patients.  I met another special friend a few weeks ago and I want to tell you about Jack. 

     About 2 weeks prior to opening the clinic, I got a call from the local animal shelter about a dog that was dropped off with an obviously broken leg. At the time I had hardly any clinical resources but Melody and I went down to see if we could help. 

      The tech showed me to an outside pen where a handsome Blue Heeler dog stood on three legs with one of his rear legs swinging from an all too obviously broken tibia. The story I was told was that someone “found” him in their fenced yard and knew that he needed care that they couldn’t provide.

     What struck me immediately about this dog was his incredible grit.  Even when the tech bent his leg at the fracture this dog made absolutely no effort to retaliate from the obvious pain that she must have inflicted.  I inspected the fracture closely along with the rest of him and determined that it appeared to be a simple midshaft fracture of the tibia. We elected to try and cast the leg to give him an opportunity to heal. We found some cast materials and did just that.

     Two weeks later the clinic opened and as I requested, they sent Jack over for a recheck. I xrayed his leg through the cast and noted that even though the bone was not in proper end to end alignment, the fracture appeared to be healing.  At that time Jack was sick with a severe case of kennel cough and appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight.  We sent him back with instructions for more follow up in another week or so. My staff of two, Melody and I all looked forward to seeing Jack again. 

     Last week he came in and was feeling much better but losing weight.  We found that he had a severe heartworm infection.  Jack’s chance for adoption had just collapsed. He looked at me and through sad brown eyes that spoke volumns about unconditional love; I was hooked. I told Lisa, the tech from the shelter that I would call them when they could pick him up.  That call won’t ever be made.  I treated Jack for heartworms, changed his cast and brought him home to meet his new family. He is lying here beside me as I write this and acts like we have been buddies for life.

     Jack has all the behavior symptoms of a dog that has lived an abused life.  I hate to think of what he has been through to bear the emotional scars that I have seen thus far.  His toughness carried him through that and I will see that the rest of his life makes up for his sad past.  Jack is special but I can’t say why. We just connect, that’s all. Maybe he just caught me at a weak moment, but his eyes make a strong case for long lasting love. What a wonderful little spirit.