** WARNING: Graphic Photos Below **
Sky was brought to BARC after Harris County Animal Cruelty Taskforce Officer Hugo was able to convince her family to surrender the dog due to very serious pressure sores caused by her back leg paralysis. The owners said she had eaten some poison that caused the paralysis, and they they had tried to help her heal from the injury.
BARC sent out a plea for Sky and we agreed to contribute up to $1,000 for medical care. Becky, our Community Relations & Grants Manager, picked her up from BARC and took her to Mercy Pet Clinic on January 25. Becky assumed given her condition she would be very sedentary in the car, but she was squirming all over, and was eager to look out the windows. Sky was very strong and pulled herself around the car to see as much as possible.
At Mercy Pet Clinic she was very friendly to everyone. They had a wheelchair that we were able to put her in. No one was quite sure how to use it, so it was an ordeal to get her hooked up. Once we did, she stood there rather uncertain of what to do next. She took a couple of steps, but did not want to move around much.
Sharon Epstein sent a pledge on Sky to her network and someone shared it with Dakota’s Adoption First Animal Rescue. The group is based in North Carolina but when Dakota moved to Covington, she started a new Kentucky branch.
No one working on Sky’s case was familiar with the organization, but we did research online and talked to Dakota. They seemed to put a lot of effort into helping dogs with extreme hardship – providing hydrotherapy, acupuncture, custom wheelchairs, etc. So, the agreement was made that Sky would go to Kentucky.
Adoption First Animal Rescue works with Pilots N Paws and was able to arrange private plane transport for Sky. She and one other dog from South Texas were flown to Kentucky on a two-leg journey.
