Maggie and Sadee - bad situation, happy ending

I'd like to start out the blog with my favorite story from last week. It's a long one, but it's a story worth telling.

Early one morning, we got a call from a client who had a dog in trouble. Among other problems, Maggie was having a severe abdominal bleed. Our client lived about 25 minutes away from the clinic, and it was obvious that she didn't have a lot of time to get something done for her dog or Maggie simply wasn't going to make it.

After her owner drove her to the clinic with speed and skill that would have ensured her a pole position at Talladega, we got Maggie into the building. Her gums were pale and she was barely able to stand. We took a look at the severity of her injuries and figured that we could fix them as long as we could get her out of shock and replace the blood she'd lost. While the techs set to work getting a catheter placed in her leg, I went to the back and looked around for the biggest, healthiest dog I could find to donate the blood that Maggie needed.

We got lucky- a big Golden Retriever named Sadee was in the building, boarding while her owners were out of town.

Sadee has an interesting story of her own. In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit, she was separated from her owners in Louisiana and they were never reunited. A big-hearted family here in Alabama adopted her from a post-Katrina rescue shelter and have cared for her ever since.

Sadee is several times larger than Maggie and her owners have kept her very healthy. We got enough blood for Maggie, and started the transfusion. By midday, Maggie was turning pink again. By the afternoon, she was standing up.

When Maggie's owner came to visit her a couple of days later, she brought two toys- one for her own dog, and one for Sadee. I thought it was a great gesture of thanks.

And that leads me to something that I want to say about our clients: We see some wonderful people here on a daily basis. Sadee's owners are about the nicest people on earth, and you can say the same about Maggie's people, too. We're very fortunate that they choose to come here.

Things like this happen pretty often. One client is in a position to help another client, and they do it. It's usually not as dramatic as one client's animal saving another animal's life, but it's good to see it happen- no matter how great or small.

-RAB