The Pet Connection’s Pet Talk: Where People & Pet’s Connect LOLA
For those of you that know me, know how passionate I am about animals, you know my heart and the love that I have for them. The opinions are all mine, the feelings are all mine and are not the view of anyone else’s. I have fought long and hard for the rights of animals and believe that if you are going to have them, then they deserve all that you can give. I understand falling on hard times and in this day and time you have so many places to reach out too that there is no excuses. We have available low cost spay and neuter clinics, low cost vaccination clinics, rescues offering to help with food and training. Everywhere you turn there are agencies close by that are willing to help if you would reach out.
Social media can be a curse and it can be a lifesaver. The curse for me is seeing all the owner surrendered pets at all the animal shelters across Texas! There absolutely should be no reason why a pet that has an owner should ever be surrendered to a shelter, no reason at all! Our shelters are overwhelmed with stray dogs and cats who’s owners have turned their backs and their responsibilities of their pets and walked away. Our rescues are full and struggle
to find enough fosters to help what pets we can to make it out of the shelter. Many abandoned pets will make it out of the shelter, but many do not. For those that don’t make it out of the shelter, there are those that are quick to blame the animal shelters, labeling them as “killers” saying that the workers don’t have a heart and enjoy killing innocent pets. I’m here to tell you, it is not the shelter workers that you should hold accountable, it’s you, your family and neighbors who should be held accountable if you are contributing to the stray population in your community. You say, ‘Melanie, that’s pretty harsh,’ I say that because each of us has a voice, we can change our behaviors and educate those around us, to make a difference in our neighborhoods and communities.
I want to share a story of an owner surrender that I just recently was involved with. Her name was Lola, a 15 year old Boxer mix that was owner surrendered (her owners dumped her off) at the Midland Animal Control Shelter. A rescue posted her on social media telling her story. Lola was pictured laying on a cold concrete floor next to her blanket and that face, that look of bewilderment, the look of confusion, broke my heart. This old gal was 15 years old, her owners for whatever their reasons were, chose to turn her over to Animal Control, to dump their family pet at an already overly full, kill shelter and walk away. How do you do such a
thing? I could never imagine having any animal for that long and then just walking away. One of the reasons given was her age? What, her age? She’s dependent on you, then you chose to walk away! Animals are a huge responsibility and huge expense too. But for some reason, in this day and time, we are seeing more and more people dumping off their pets across the country. We’ve become a nation that has lost respect for it’s elderly, lost respect for those in authority, and have become a nation that turns our backs on our responsibilities with no repercussion.
Seeing Lola there at the shelter broke my heart and I knew that I must act. So many people were posting on social media, ‘Aw, poor girl. Someone go get her. I’d get her, but I already have dogs. Oh, she doesn’t like cats. That leaves me out.’ So many post, so many excuses. I called that morning to the Midland shelter, told them when I’d be off work and that if she hadn’t been adopted, I was coming for her. They gladly took my number and arrangements were made. Friday afternoon I made the trip to Midland to get Miss Lola.
After filling out paperwork, they brought Lola down the long hallway. She moved at a slow pace as her hind quarters moved side to side. The sight of her, so frail, so lost, was more than I could bear. We walked outside, she and I as my eyes welded up. I made a promise to her that she’d never be alone again. That’d she never lay on cold concrete and want for anything. That I would love and care for her until the end. Sadly, I had no idea how short out time would be.
I picked her up and placed her in my front seat, in the bed that I had made for her. As I sat in my vehicle, the tears flowed like a running river, I couldn’t contain my emotions at the fact that someone could do this to such a precious soul.
Lola, Ebony, and Richard (my three dogs), made the trip home. During that trip, Ebony and Richard could sense the loss in Lola. Richard and Ebony kept their distance and let me give Lola my full attention as we made the trip to Big Spring. Once home, Lola settled onto the dog bed and slept.
Between Friday and Monday, Lola slept, was still depressed and completely lost. You can only imagine being pulled from a home, from surroundings that you know, stripped away from familiar smells and people to be tossed into an unknown situation. My concern now for Lola was to get her to the vet to have a complete evaluation and healthy workup to see what we were up against. Never in my wildest dreams would I have though that I would be saying goodbye to Lola.
Lola’s vet appointment was scheduled and as I carried her in I had no idea that I’d be saying goodbye. During Lola’s blood draw, it showed that she could possibly be anemic and I thought that was going to be my biggest concern.
Lola’s temperature was 104 when a normal dog’s temperature should be 101 to 102.5 and everyone knows that if your pets temperature rises about 104 or falls below 99, to seek medical attention immediately. When the doctor came in and he did her physical exam, an enlarged spleen was detected. With that, more extensive testing was needed, an xray of her spleen was taken. Lola had refused food from me, but continued to drink water and now I know why. Her enlarged spleen was pushing into her other internal organs making it hard to breath and eat. Now, keep in mind, this enlarged spleen (tumor) didn’t just show up from Friday to Monday, Lola had been suffering from kidney failure, along with several other elevated labs. Lola had been in bad health for sometime prior to being dumped at the shelter by her previous owners.
Once the results of her completed lab work came back and her x-ray was looked at, it was determined at Lola had cardiomyopathy/splenic neoplasia and that she was bleeding out internally. I so wanted and had made up my mind that Lola would come back home with me. I needed more time to make up for the wrong that had been done to her by her owners. I wanted her to know that she was loved, I wanted to hold and love her. But, it wasn’t in the cards for Lola. The doctor said that Lola could pass at anytime, that her bleeding internally, her enlarged spleen, the cancerous tumor, was only a