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Our latest dog rescues have been varied to say the least. Some of the dogs we fetch in are very sick or badly injured and it can be quite emotional. Others are aggressive and it's 'watch your fingers'. The worst of the cases inevitably stand out in the mind. Recently we had both in one day - sad and scary. The sad case first - a poor Rottweiler, wandering about, bewildered and not knowing where he was. He's still young, a handsome chap but with no future. Because he's a rottweiler? Not at all. He has a wonderful nature but he's in shocking condition and we know already that this one won't respond to our feeding and nurturing and t.l.c. The dog is extremeley thin and with a huge tumour on his leg. He's a lovely good natured chap but we know what the vet will say.
No options. Rottweilers have had such bad publicity recently but there are lots of really nice and well behaved rottis out there - and this guy is one of them. We're having him put to sleep next week though. Yes, it's very sad, but he is severely and incurably ill - the vet says it's bone cancer and the tumour is very painful. So how did he get to be a stray in this state? We've got him on painkillers and we are feeding him up, he's licking our hands and smiling at us. But he won't get better and putting him out of his suffering is the kindest thing. There's no option, no cure possible, we'd do it right away if we could but we have to wait seven days first - it's a legal thing and not up to us and never mind the dog.
There's just a chance that he might be claimed and although we think he's been thrown out because he's at the end of his life path, that might not be so and he could have wandered off and somebody's looking for him. Alright, they'd have phoned the police and the dog wardens and been passed on to us here and found their pal. What's more likely is the vet fees have defeated the owners - having a big dog put to sleep and cremated is expensive. Some people just can't afford it. I'm not making excuses for anyone here - this dog shouldn't have been allowed to get into this advanced state. Local vets don't know him so maybe he's from out of town which is often the case.
Sometimes it's the emotional agony of having a pet put to sleep.; It's a fantasy world out there and people lose touch with reality. Dogs are great when everything is going well - some folk can't cope with the down turns. It's always surprising and shocking to us when terminally ill pets are abandoned but it happens more often than you could imagine.
This lovely friendly Rotti whose name we don't know is at least not suffering, he's warm and comfortable and he's eating well. What will we do when the time comes? Give him a big dinner, some sedation and he'll not know what's happening and just go to sleep. Where are his owners? It's just so sad.
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