One evening, as we went to flip the 'open' sign on our front door to 'closed', we saw a car pull into the driveway of our headquarters. A lady emerged, holding a tiny pup in her arms.
They both looked incredibly rattled - the lady had tears in her eyes and the small, fluffy darling looked at us with her big, sorrowful face. It was clear that something was troubling both of them.
"She won't eat. She hasn't eaten anything in four days. I've tried everything. I don't know what to do." the lady told us.
The dog's name was Cuddles - a teeny 13-year-old, long-haired chihuahua with ears almost as big as her body. The lady's name was Mary*. She was a survivor of domestic violence that took place over many years. Now, as a sufferer of PTSD, her sweet pup has been her saviour and only friend, her "whole life".
We rushed Cuddles to the earliest vet appointment available. It turned out that Cuddles was experiencing some extremely painful pancreatitis and on top of that, she also had pyometra; a serious life-threatening bacterial infection of the uterus.
With everything that was going on, it's no wonder why this tiny pup had no strength left in her.
The only way to treat the condition is with an emergency surgery to remove the entire uterus. Because Cuddles is a senior pup, the surgery was incredibly risky but that was the only choice we had to save her life.
Amazingly three days post-surgery, Cuddles was back to her playful self, bringing joy to her special person again.
More recently, we were asked to support Cuddles once more but this time with foster care while her mum was dealing with a medical condition. Unfortunately during her stay, Cuddles developed breathing difficulties and urgently needed medical care, including antibiotics, X-rays, and steroids, totalling around $1,300 in vet bills.
Pets Of The Homeless covers all medical expenses for our pets in foster care to alleviate the financial burden for their guardians and our volunteer foster carers, ensuring they both have the peace of mind they deserve.
Today, Cuddles is happy and healthy once more, and after 42 days apart she returned home to her favourite person’s side.
*Name changed for privacy reasons.
