To all the ones we could not save

For every animal whose life we change, we know there are others still out their waiting for our help. For every animal we save, we know there are some that we can’t get to in time.

Our hearts are broken again and again at the senseless suffering we sometimes see. A defenseless baby, separated far too young from his litter mates, only 4 weeks old. He was found on his own.

We quickly recognized the classic symptoms of distemper – every rescuer’s worst nightmare. We tried so hard to give him his chance as we immediately rushed him to the vet for emergency care.

We were too late.

Too late for intervention.

Too late to stop the seizures.

Too late to give a second chance.

Our only option was to end his pain. His short life was over before it ever really started. He should not have endured this kind of suffering or such an untimely end, and we can’t help but wonder where his litter mates are. Are they suffering the same horrible fate? Distemper is highly contagious and usually fatal to both unvaccinated puppies and adult dogs. Rest assured our intake team is searching for them as you read this.

No little guy deserves this death. It was entirely preventable. A simple vaccine. An inexpensive simple vaccine given to his mother likely would have saved his life. Instead he passed away in the compassionate arms of one of our volunteers, not having been with us long enough to even be given a name.

………..To all the ones we could not save we are sorry.