In a remarkable turn of events, the owner of the elderly stray was found. This little girl is not the first stray we picked up off the streets, although this one was in the worst shape. Typical reaction to this is usually, “Thank you for finding my dog” or “Hey guys, I think you have my dog.”
This was not the case here. They opened with this. Literally the first communication from them.
I know that losing a dog can be an emotional experience, but just a PSA, probably not the best way to open a dialogue with someone who took the dog off the street. 🙂 Just in case you are in this situation, in most states this is a civil matter and police will not get involved.
If an animal is found roaming at large, it is reasonable to ask the owners to provide the proof of ownership, which is what we have done in this case. We had posted the picture of the dog in the neighborhood Facebook group and several people attempted to claim her as theirs, so we had to make it clear that we would need photos or vet records. Somehow this was miscommunicated to the owners, who were not the members of the group, and they proceeded to bombard Kid 2 with aggressive messages.
The family has since apologized. They have a lot on their plate and the dog care seems to have fallen through the cracks.
The family maintains that the dog was only out for one day. Multiple people in the neighborhood swore that they had seen her running around for days, but nobody can be sure if it’s the case because the sad truth is, chihuahuas are often either dumped or allowed to roam. So who knows?
In any case, we reunited the dog with her owners this Friday. We met her actual owner, an 89 year old lady who is sadly not sure what was going on, but she recognized the dog, so a happy ending all around. We provided them with vet records, a two-week supply of renal support food, a monthly dose of flea preventative, the antibiotic, and pain killer. We will not be seeking reimbursement of the vet bill. We had done that voluntarily for the sake of the dog. 🙂
We have stressed that the dog requires teeth extraction, and we offered to financially help them with it. We also explained that canine kidney disease presents with weight loss, anemia, and increased thirst and the proper diet is very important.
To be honest, this whole experience should have been happy – it’s always awesome to find the dog’s family – except it kind of wasn’t. It was stressful.
Some of you probably will urge us to report the case of canine neglect. We considered it and we decided against it. This is clearly an emotional support dog for an elderly widow of a service member. She bought the dog with her now deceased husband 14 years ago. The family has a lot going on so hopefully this experience with remind them to keep up with the vet care a little better. If there is an emergency, they can reach out to us.
So we are back to our usual pack. Comments are locked, because the emotional toll of this saga was kind of heavy. I promise we will open with something lighter next week.
