09/06/2025
When I first saw Charlie posted on Nextdoor, the woman who found him
was planning to take him to animal control. I knew what that meant — he would almost certainly be euthanized, who would want such a crippled starving old man. So I decided to save him and imagine my surprise when I saw him in person, he was actually a puppy. His big feet gave him away. The consensus was that the horrible cropping of the ears and tail indicated he was probably going to be used as bait in a dog fighting ring. I can only speculate that when they realized he was having seizures, they dumped him.
Not long after he came to me, he started having seizures. For a while they were reasonably controlled, but the other night things changed. He began seizing uncontrollably. He spent that night at the emergency vet, but because they closed at 6 AM, I had to rush him to my regular vet. She put him on new medications, but when her clinic closed, I had to bring him home. Within hours, the seizures started again. I could see he was heading for another cluster, so we made the drive to UGA.
On the way there, he was making strange sounds that I had never heard before. Later I found out that he was whimpering.
While waiting for the UGA vet to come back after her evaluation, I heard a dog crying uncontrollably in the back. It was heartbreaking and I wondered if that was increasing Charlie’s anxiety. Imagine was horror when the vet said it was Charlie. We were so afraid, not knowing if they would be able to get him under control, or what his fate might be.
Charlie spent two nights night at UGA. Finally, they managed to break the cluster of seizures. We know it will happen again, but we are determined to give him the best life we can. With new medications, we are hopeful we can stop the next cluster before it reaches that point.
When I picked him up, he walked right past me, not recognizing who I was. At home, he seemed confused, but eventually his mind cleared and he became Charlie again — although more subdued than before.
Needless to say, the bills are staggering — around $4,700. I’ll have to get creative to raise those kind of funds. Not to worry,
I have something up my sleeve. Stay tuned….
https://givebutter.com/T4jggB
