Flake's Angel Fund

Ok, It is no secret by now that I love animals. Sadly, not all pets are as loved and cared for as the ones lucky enough to be brought in for regular veterinary care (like little Ricardo, who is doing great today!)

Unwanted and stray animals often come our way, and if possible, they are rarely turned away for emergency medical care. Then there are those owned by humans just down on their luck, hit by this crummy economy.
In July 2002, when I opened my hospital, Flake's Angel Fund was established by my sister, Teresa, in memory of my beloved first cat, Flake. Flake was with me throughout vet school and beyond, but died of cancer (having fought it for 4 years!) just before the hospital opened. Teresa wanted to set up the fund to help treat the animals that otherwise wouldn't get care. It also supports the non-kill shelters in the area, and became national when it donated more than $500 in cash and supplies to the animal victims of hurricane Katrina.

So far, the fund has helped patch up and find homes for well over 100 animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, even rats and a lizard. Many were adopted by staff members of the hospital.
Last week a very nice client came in with her newly adopted dog from the shelter. Lucy was very sick, hanging her head, depressed, dehydrated, wouldn't eat and had been vomitting and had diarrhea. Due to her recent exposure to other shelter dogs and her unknown vaccine status, I suspected (and confirmed with a fecal test) parvo virus enteritis, a potentially deadly disease of the gastointestinal tract. There is a new strain of parvo out right now that also affects the heart, so I was quite worried for Lucy.

Now this owner had done everything right. She didn't adopt from a pet store or a puppy mill breeder. She gave a homeless dog a chance, had her spayed and vaccinated and dewormed. But she had just spent a lot of money on a procedure for her other beloved dog the month before and here she was faced with the potential for a huge vet bill on a dog she just got 3 days earlier. We have good luck treating parvo IF we are able to. Some of the sick puppies might be hospitalized for a week or more on IV fluids, injectable meds to control vomitting and infection, intensive care, and isolation from other animals. (It would be a disaster if hospital staff passed on the disease to the vulnerable, sick animals here for other reasons.) Other parvo dogs might just need some subcutaneous (under the skin) fluids and antiemetics (antivomitting) meds and a short hospital stay. It really is impossible to know how a dog will do before you start treating, so we have to give a wide range of an estimate for care. It was just too much for this poor client to handle. She elected to euthanize Lucy, knowing she couldn't continue as she was without any treatment.

Enter Flake's fund. We asked the client if she would be willing to transfer her ownership over to the hospital and allow us to try and treat Lucy, knowing she could very well die anyway, but at least give her a chance. The owner seemed very grateful that we would do this for her, and even contributed the costs of what she would have spent to euthanize her anyway.

Lucy was a fighter and very lucky. She obviously didn't have the virulent new strain of parvo, stopped her vomitting and diarrhea and was eating her bland food ravenously by the 2nd day. Ordinarily we try to find a new home for these Flake's Fund critters, but we knew that this client was a good one and had just fallen on some hard times. Hoping these are just temporary, we decided to adopt Lucy back to the original owner. Boy, did that feel good! Unfortunately, we can't do this for every pet that comes in. We have a business to run and I have 7 employees that I am responsible for. But once in awhile special cases touch our hearts just right. I think Flake would have approved.

Peace,
DrReneigh