A Rescue With A Difference

Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/a-rescue-with-a-difference/

It was late at night and I was at work with my dog when I realized something was wrong. My dog was pacing and unsettled. I let her out the back, but she returned having done nothing, and began circling again and started retching.

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I called my emergency vets who said I could bring her in, but I was miles away from home, at almost 10 pm at night. ‘You need to find me somewhere closer’ I said ‘now’. They filtered off the lists of emergency vets near me. My work was in the middle of the country and I had a good 20-minute journey. I bundled my dog into the back of my car and in the pitch-black sped off.

The vet seemed calm. ‘She’s probably just eaten something, but we’ll take an x-ray to make sure,’ the vet assured me.

I sat in the deserted waiting room alone. Maybe I was wrong? Maybe I had overreacted?

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Suddenly the vet was calling me. She showed me the x-ray. I knew it was bad. ‘Your dog has a stomach twist’ she said ‘I’m sorry to do this but you can either put her down immediately or risk operating but your dog is in agony and will die a horrendous death within minutes if we don’t act now’.

I could hardly breathe. I looked into her sad eyes, tears pouring from my face. ‘You have to operate’ I said. The vet nodded, ‘I have to warn you’ she replied ‘ it’s unlikely she’ll survive this operation and it will cost thousands of pounds’.

But there was no contest.

Giving my dog a final kiss, I left the vets shaking and sobbing. The journey home was a long and lonely one. I never thought I would see her again.