5/14/21 3 days ago, we pulled a ten year old girl out of the shelter. Her body was aged, past ten years for sure. When we got Dottie, we knew she had been neglected and possibly abused for quite some time. Someone just used this girl til there was not much left of her.
We still had high hopes and felt we could help her. We knew she needed surgery for tumors and her mouth was just horrible. We thought she was doing fairly well. She got bathed and ate and she looked like she was starving. We did notice she had much difficulty eating and we thought it was her teeth. We also did not know if she could undergo surgery with her heart but we sure hoped so. She did have some neurological issues but our main concern was getting and keeping her out of pain.
During the next few days we started to see Dottie struggle. When it got pretty bad, we got her comfortable with pain meds and took her right in for assessment. Our little girl was way worse and the vets did not give us any hope. For those of you that follow us, you know we are about quality, not quantity. We strive to help and save but many times rescue is hard. The vets did not feel Dottie had much quality and even worse, she was in pain and was suffering.
Last night we noticed blood from her mouth but it was so painful, we really could not evaluate it. Today they found her mouth was causing excruciating pain as her jaw was broken. We collectively made a decision to let her cross over the bridge. We made sure she was comfortable and resting. She was held in our arms as she drifted away.
This is when rescue hits us. We wanted so much more for Dottie. Unfortunately Dottie was so far gone when we got her, that our hope was not enough to bring her back. I cannot imagine how long she has been in this condition. How long has she endured this pain? How long has she been suffering? It is no wonder she had difficulty eating even though she was hungry. She was so thin. Someone let her get into this condition. Once we found out we could not bring her back and help her get better, our job was to help her cross in peace. Our hearts break. It is not enough to “will it” although we so wish it was. We can only hope that these days with us were comforting and she was not in a cold shelter, but surrounded by compassion. Rest in Peace Dottie.