Success Stories

Buddy is a 3-year-old beagle that came to live with us after a few pit stops. He was born from a sickly mama beagle that an elderly neighbor of my sister asked her to take shortly after his wife passed away. Buddy originally went home with another family after weaning, but he was brought back quickly because their two larger dogs were too aggressive with him. At that point I showed the picture to my husband again and he went to pick up Mr. Buddy 9 hours round trip away. The day after Thanksgiving 2017 Buddy at 9 weeks old became a member of the Behrend Family. He is cherished by our family and serves as an unofficial support animal to our three special needs children. Our 14-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter both are on the Autism Spectrum. Our 6-year-old daughter is epileptic and also is diagnosed with apraxia of speech and anxiety. Our youngest spends the most time with Buddy and he's even alerted us to an oncoming seizure in the past and stayed with her to comfort her afterwards. 

Buddy is a constant comfort to me as well when I'm in need of a puppy cuddle every night after a long day. He also enjoys playing and learning tricks with his dad. Buddy was initially injured Monday evening October 19th when our daughter accidentally fell on him near his tail when she hugged him. He was doing fine with no signs of limping or pain until later that evening he was too active running around and jumping on furniture which exacerbated the injury. It was a devastating accident that has serious consequences for the dog's health and our family’s emotional wellbeing.  

At this point I took him to the Emergency vet immediately and he was diagnosed with a back injury. He was given two medications and we were instructed to let him rest for two weeks and no furniture. At the time he was still able to walk. The next morning, he worsened and was crying when posturing for urinating so we went to our vet and were told to give it more time and follow prior instructions. Early Wednesday Buddy has lost all movement in his rear legs and his tail barley moved. I rushed him to our vet again sobbing first thing in the AM for emergency appointments. He was x-rayed, but it showed no broken bones. His meds were changed to a steroid, but I was told that I had a choice to make if he didn’t improve my Friday; Monday at the latest. 

I initially looked for help within Beagle rescues, but their resources were already depleted. I was offered an opportunity to surrender him to a no-kill shelter for treatment, but we would lose our dog/friend/family member and he would lose us too. It seemed cruel to abandon him when he needed us the most. We are Buddy's third and final home and we wanted it to stay that way no matter the sacrifice. Friday, we got together all the money we had not needed to pay our immediate housing costs and took Mr. Buddy back to the Emergency Vet for supportive care and an MRI. They got him hooked up with IV fluids, IV pain management, IV anti-diarrheal medication and anti-inflammatory medication as well. 

They did the surgery estimate and I had applied for care credit to leave the remainder of the deposit since we had to leave half down and we did not have enough. Without the money and signed treatment plan they would not move forward with his MRI in the AM. In the morning the surgeon called and told me that she suspected a herniated disk. She informed me that he would be prepped for surgery and the MRI performed. As long as nothing worse was found, they would proceed with the surgery immediately after the MRI since he would already be under anesthesia for the test. Surgery has been performed and they are now proving his immediate post-surgical care around the clock. It seems to have been successful as motor movement has returned to both legs and he is able to lift his tail, but he has a long road to recovery and won’t be able to walk without support for some time. Pet Rehab has also been recommended for the future. 

We're asking for help now because his surgery fees because it is a substantial expensive and we want to make sure that after surgery we have enough of our own resources to provide for his aftercare and give him the best life he deserves. Without enough funds to pay the second half of the invoice we would not have been able to bring our boy home. Thank you for your consideration.