Abandoned and unable to walk after a car accident. Minutes away from euthanasia. Rockin' Robert was saved by Pets Alive volunteers one year ago, and he's doing better than ever.
Meet Rockin' Robert.
He's a rescue dog here to remind us that everyone deserves a second chance.
Source: facebook.com
Pets Alive is a no-kill animal shelter. It's mission is to "rescue, rehabilitate, and place animals in need." Based in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, volunteers help coordinate anything their rescue animals may need, from a "bath and a little affection" to "very intensive surgical intervention and long-term care."
One night in late February of last year, the executive director started to search through the animals that the New York City Animal Care and Control has placed on its kill lists; sanctuaries and rescue organizations can call and pull animals from those lists to pick them up the next day. Volunteers, however, cannot pull animals.
The executive director pulled two cats and two dogs before going to sleep that night.
At 9:45 the following morning, while checking for confirmation on the four animals, they discovered an injured dog that was not on the list the night before.
He was the victim of a car accident that happened two or three days previous.
His name was Robert.
Source: petsalive.com
The staff of Pets Alive faced a hard decision. As the blog post describes, they knew "what taking in a serious medically difficult dog means to us all, and we all know how expensive it may be too, and we all know how much time it will take to help and handle a crippled dog. But they didn't hesitate."
The staff decided to rush him as quickly as they could to a critical care animal hospital — over an hour away in evening traffic and in a snowstorm. According to the vet visit right after Robert was rescued, it seemed like he was recently hit by a car which made a potentially pre-existing condition worse.
Although they had only met Roberts a couple hours ago, they decided to endure thousands of dollars of medical care. The staff was ready to make it work with whatever means necessary; no one could say no to that face or to the tail that could barely thump the floor.
Source: petsalive.com
March 15, 2012
It was a week since Robert came home from the hospital. He was diagnosed with:
- T3-L3 myelopathy- non ambulatory paraplegia
- Traumatic disc rupture T13-L1, left sided hemilaminectomy on 3/1
- Upper motor neuron bladder and suspect chronic bladder muscle injury
- Suspect HBC (hit by car)—multiple abrasions (head, R elbow, R hock)
- Traumatic hepatopathy-resolving
He had spinal surgery. It took days for his appetite to come back, and he was released even though he couldn't express his bladder on his own. With the help of plenty of liverwurst, he took 10 pills at three times a day.
It was "heartbreaking to see him get frustrated with his immobility, but even if Robert is to use a cart in the near future his spine needs to heal for several weeks first, or MORE damage may result."
Volunteers gave him their happiness, patience and love.
Source: petsalive.com / via: petsalive.com
