We asked for pictures and there he is, Bully clearly had a broken leg but what we didn’t know was what bone and exactly what type of fracture. We asked the volunteer to rush him to our clinic and do a radiological analysis. Here is the image that the Xrays have produced. The tibia is totally shattered. It won’t set on its own, it can’t be set with a cast. To save his life Bully must be operated and his leg fixed with plates.

We have BEGGED for some extra time at the pound for Bully and they have given us until Wednesday morning to come up with a solution.

This is an emergency, as you know we don’t currently have any safety net so we can’t give the go ahead and operate unless we gather the necessary funds. Sadly, this is serious, if we don’t manage to get the funds together Bully will die on Wednesday.

We have been given a quote of 1.400 Euros plus incidentals and hospitalisation. Please, if you can, help us save this poor dog, he’s incredibly sweet, a mini-wolf that just wants to lick you on the face and play. Unless we get together and do this he will never be able to lick anyone anymore….

Please, if you can, help us save Bully today, the amount doesn’t really matter.. every little will help him …

Help us save Bully!! .. Many thanks!

Viktor

—-

Update May 17… JOY!!!!!

This morning we published a picture of Bully but we made a mistake, it wasn’t Bully, it was Burton to this evening we are going to publish yet another picture and it’s not Bully either, it’s Angela, a beautiful waitress at our favorite restaurant in Munich… here she is..

Ok, after this little prank to keep the obsessive miserables alert… HERE IS BULLY!!!.. The guy can’t wait to be running again..

he procedure was extremely complicated due to the type of fracture. We decided to go for a MIPO (Minimally Invasive Plate Osteosintesis) but we have some complications. Here you have a couple of videos that will give you an idea of how the procedure was..

Bully’s life has been saved in extremis because of the way this community rallied together in his help, but his recovery is far from over. It will take weeks and weeks of therapy until he is able to run again. The operation has been paid, but his treatment is not over yet, please, if you can, continue helping Bully through his period of rehabilitation and recovery…

Help us save Bully!! .. Many thanks!

Viktor

“Perhaps it is true that we do not really exist until there is someone there to see us existing, we cannot properly speak until there is someone there who can understand what we are saying, in essence, we are not wholly alive until we are loved.”

It was a cold winter night and I was starting to pack my stuff and head home. It had been a long and stressful day, one of the operations in the morning had presented complications. We were exhausted, and dying to call it a day.

Then, all of a sudden, someone sent me an email.  The header read: URGENT!! LUCIO DIES TOMORROW!!

And so, in there was the story of LUCIO, a Pekingese mix, that right up until a few days earlier had lived a comfortable life with his owner, an elderly gentleman, his friend.

Sadly, Lucio’s owner had just passed away, and so his destiny now laid in the hands of his owner’s sons, and they had decided they didn’t want anything to do with the dog.  LUCIO was going to be taken to the pound the following morning.  Someone had managed to take a (hideous) picture and put it on Facebook. It was the modern day equivalent of the classic “message in a bottle”.

The picture was terrible… in there you could see a dog surrounded by a reddish haze. He seemed like a devil.  It was clear to me that that picture wasn’t going to work.

I decided to wait a bit and see people’s reactions… nothing… a couple of Shares, and expressions of sorrow but after a while it seemed pretty clear to me that LUCIO was going to die the following morning.

Lucio was healthy, scared and confused and he had run out of time. We had to do something, this was too unfair, couldn’t let it happen… and so, I called the contact number and asked them to bring him to our clinic that same evening.

Lucio spent a few days with our friend Miguel (Nina’s owner), and then moved in with Maria and Pancho while we started the process of finding him a final home.

A few days later LUCIO, until then an intact male, lost “the crown jewels”

What can I tell you about Lucio’s character? What a guy…  I absolutely love him. He’s a little bundle of joy, playful and energetic whilst calm when he has to be. Because he was owned by an elderly man he’s used to his rhythm, he walks great on a leash, he is housetrained and he is as affectionate as he could be.

Lucio had everything and in the space of a couple of days he lost it all… from loved companion he went to the edge of disaster.  Through Maria’s love he has regained his life. It’s time for us to find him a final home so that he can go on spreading his love to others.

Our conditions for adoption:

1. Family MUST have another dog
2. LUCIO will be an indoor dog. Garden is a plus, but he will enjoy a family life.
3. LUCIO will be fed the only species appropriate diet for a carnivore, a RAW diet (www.rawfed.com)
4. No smoking  families.

Una fría noche de invierno y ya estaba a punto de recoger mis cosas e irme a casa. Había sido un día largo y agotador, una de las operaciones que tuvimos por la mañana presento complicaciones. Estabamos agotados, y ese fue justo el momento en el que me llego un correo electrónico, con el titulo MUY URGENTE: LUCIO, MUERE MAÑANA..
Y alli estaba la historia a LUCIO, una mezcla de pekines que hasta hacia unos pocos dias había vivido una vida cómoda con su anciano propietario, su amigo. Desgraciadamente, el caballero acababa de fallecer y así, el destino de Lucio quedaba en manos de su hijo que en un ultimo insulto a la memoria de su padre decidió llevar a Lucio a la perrera para ser sacrificado a la mañana siguiente.
Alguien consiguió tomar una foto (horrible) y la puso en Facebook. El moderno equivalente del clasico “mensaje en una botella”
La foto era horrible… en ella se podía ver un perro envuelto en una bruma rojiza. Mas que un perro parecía un diablillo. Estaba claro que con aquella foto el pobre Lucio moriría sin remision.
No podíamos dejar que sucediera, era algo totalmente injusto. Así, hicimos la llamada y pedimos que nos trajeran a Lucio a la clínica esa misma noche.

Lucio paso unos días con nuestro amigo Miguel (el propietario de Nina, recordais?) y al poco se mudo a casa de María y Pancho mientras nosotros iniciábamos el proceso de buscarle una casa final. Por esos dias Lucio hasta entonces macho intacto, perdió “las joyas de la corona”.
Y que os puedo yo contar sobre el carácter de Lucio? Que tio… es absolutamente adorable. Un pequeño lleno de energía y alegría totalmente acostumbrado a vivir en una casa. Al haber sido propiedad de una persona mayor esta acostumbrado a llevar un ritmo relajado, camina genial de la correa y es lo mas cariñoso que os podáis imaginar.
LUCIO lo tenia todo y en un par de dias se quedo sin nada. De ser un querido companero durmiendo en un sofa, paso a estar al borde del abismo. Gracias a Maria Lucio ha recobrado la alegría de vivir. Ha llegado el momento de encontrarle un hogar donde pueda repartir su amor para siempre.

Nuestras condiciones de adopcion:
1. La familia ha de tener otro perro en este momento.

2. LUCIO vivira y dormira en el interior de la casa y disfrutara de una vida familiar.

3. LUCIO sera alimentado con una dieta biologicamente apropiada para un carnivoro, es decir, una dieta compuesta en su mayor parte de carne cruda y huesos.

4. Familia no fumadora.
Por favor considerad adoptar a este perrillo excepcional. Le conozco bien y se que tiene todo el amor el mundo para daros. Llevaoslo a casa. Contactadme en viktor@myletsadopt.com y contarmelo sobre vosotros y vuestra familia. Decidamos juntos si sois el major hogar para Lucio!

Os ruego que me ayudeis a encontrarle a Lucio un hogar. Por favor Difundid este blog en Facebook y redes sociales.

Muchas gracias

Viktor

Vilma the Beautiful started her life as part of a litter of hunting dogs in Spain. Born and bred to hunt and be discarded at the end of the season, maybe, if lucky and exceptional hunters to be used for a couple of seasons, rarely more. After that death, either by abandon or by hanging from a tree. Yes… hanging from a tree.

Vilma was lucky and somehow escaped her grim destiny that wasn’t her destiny after all. We don’t know how long she was on the road, but we know one day she arrived to the grounds of the Hospital and decided to stay.

At first, the management of the hospital wasn’t too keen on the idea of having that big dog roaming the hospital grounds but soon she had won the hearts of everyone, management, employees and residents. There was something special about her that made her endearing to everyone that met her. To the patients she brought peace, a smile, and memories of their life outside.

She didn’t only attracted humans. One day, returning from one of her morning walks she arrived to the hospital accompanied by a little rat-terrier white as the snow that was immediately called Pancho and because her official beau and companion of adventures.

Vilma and Pancho became the hospital welcoming committee, and they met hundreds of people, always greeting them happily (that is, jumping and trying to kiss their faces).

This period of happiness lasted until new management arrived, Vilma and Pancho were given marching orders. They would have to find a new place to live and leave what had been their home for so long. I doubt any of them imagined what was to happen.

Pancho was the lucky one.. he was adopted by one of the hospital workers, a beautiful girl that promised him eternal love and that he would never be out on the streets again.

Unfortunately Vilma was too big to be adopted together with her beloved Pancho, but she was placed in a foster home while a final family was found.

Months passed…. in a country crazy for pure breeds Vilma wasn’t wanted, her beauty and kindness totally overlooked. Her days at her foster home were running out, she couldn’t be there any longer, it was at that time that we were contacted and requested to help.

Moved by Vilma’s story and totally in love with her energy and attitude to live we have given Vilma our word that we will find her a home. And we did something else for her… we reunited her with the love of her life… Pancho.

This video is just a short clip describing what happened when they met. Look at this because it’s pure beauty, and the very reason why we love dogs….

Pancho is adopted, and he will remain with Maria forever, but Vilma the beautiful is in a boarding home and she needs to find a home to finally call her own.

Please help us find a home for this beautiful girl that has so much love to give. It’s time for Vilma the Beautiful to find a home to finally call her own.

Vilma is EXTREMELY social, loving, fun, kind, playful.. she is EVERYTHING a dog should be.. Please open your home to her..

Our conditions for adoption:

1. There MUST have another dog in the family. She is very social, we must make sure there has a friend to play with.
2. Vilma will have a family life, she won’t be used for hunting, or any other job/purpose other than being part of the family, play and make everyone happy
3. Vilma will be fed a species appropriate diet. She will be fed RAW (www.rawfed.com)
4. Vilma hates smoking… No smoking families please…

Write to me on viktor@myletsadopt.com telling me everything about you and your family… come on… open your heart to Vilma the Beautiful…

Please help us find a home for Vilma the Beautiful… Please SHARE this story on your social networks… let’s use the power of social media for good today… please…

“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember.  You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.   But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.”

- Winnie the Pooh

The home foreclosure crisis in America is affecting the most innocent of victims.  They are left behind when families are forced out of their homes with nowhere to go.    Most homeless shelters and many apartment landlords don’t allow or welcome these innocent victims.   And sometimes, people just don’t’ care about their companions enough to take them with them.    So, they are left behind.  Abandoned to fend for themselves.  Or worse, locked in the closed home.

These victims have no voice. They didn’t  choose to be left behind.  They don’t know why they’re left alone with no food, or water.  They don’t know why their loved ones are no longer home.  These are the foreclosure pets.

Orangey is one of those victims.  His family left in the middle of the night and left him behind.  For two weeks he was locked inside!!  A neighbor spotted Orangey  and called Animal Control but was told that they wouldn’t  do anything without the bank’s permission.  The bank never returned the call.  So the neighbor contacted Let’s Adopt! for help.

We came right away.

We found him with no food or water…emaciated, dehydrated, and very ill.   Still, he didn’t want to leave.  He seemed to want to keep waiting for his family to come back to get him not knowing  they never would.       Orangey is now our responsibility and we won’t leave him alone.

Orangey’s condition is critical and needs help.  His kidneys show some damage and he has a systemic infection.  Please help us give Orangey a second chance.

—

UPDATE May 9

ORANGEY has been in intensive case for the last 72 hours. The weeks spent locked in that home without food or water damaged the kidneys irreversibly.

Orangey put up a brave fight but in the end, he lost.. he lost his life against cruelty, against neglect, inhumanity and the absurdity of a system that treats animals as dispensable things that you just leave behind.

Goodbye little friend… we’ll always remember you.

“There are no second chances in life, except to feel remorse.”

 

LET’S ADOPT! GLOBAL, INC.,
Plaintiff
v.
GORDON MACEY, d/b/a “TORONTO PET DAILY,”TANYA FUSCO, MICHELLE
SHAW, INCILAY GOLDEN, CRYSTAL DONOVAN, DAWN HARRISON, CLAIRE
TALLTREE, DARLENE DEMREN, ELIZABETH DUVALL, MARCELLA JANES,
JANETTE HAMILTON, CAROL H. VIERELA, JULIE TAIT BRASWELL, BARBARA
NEMETH a/k/a BARBARA OMAN, DEVIN HARDIN, CANDY RENE a/k/a SUSANNE
GOETZ, GEORGINA RATHBONE TINNON a/k/a GE RATHBONE, DEANNA
WATTERS a/k/a DEE WATTERS, MARG SCHUMACHER, PINAR URAV a/k/a
ANGELA LEMATIS, TAUNYA HUFFMAN, MICHELLE BREW, KENDRA J.
ANDREWS a/k/a KENDRA JADE ROSSI a/k/a ERICA ANNE BRINSAN, PATRICIA
COONEY a/k/a TRISH COONEY, TRACEY M. BENZEL, ALANA SYNHOFF CANUPP,
ANGELIA BRATCHER BESS, JOSEPH AMMENDOLA d/b/a “BROKEN BREEDS
RADIO,” JETZ MADDOX a/k/a LESLEY MADDOX d/b/a “BROKEN BREEDS
RADIO,” ASHLEY ANDERSON, CELEBRITY PUPPY BOUTIQUE, LLC, d/b/a
BOUTIQUE TEACUP PUPPIES, JOHN DOES 1 through 7, and JOHN DOE,
Defendants

As you know, for the last year and a half Let’s Adopt Global and our friends have been under constant attack by a small but determined group of individuals. What started as just a nuisance to be ignored, a little mole of sorts, has developed into full fledged cancer, spreading across the internet like wildfire and threatening to completely destroy our credibility.

From the beginning we had trouble deciding how to handle this problem, but it was clear we had to do something. We tried dialogue, it didn’t work. We tried ignoring them and simply focusing on our work — on saving lives — it didn’t work either. Soon, the organizers of this defamation campaign reached out and started attracting alike minds. Soon we were battling a chaotic but growing and incredibly determined posse that would stop at nothing to destroy what we all have fought so hard to achieve. It was then we realized that the only way we were going to stop this would be to appeal to The Law.

Over the past six months we have built an incredibly detailed legal case describing this orchestrated defamation campaign, filled to the brim with malicious lies and falsehoods that have gravely hurt us personally and severely damaged our capacity to fulfill our mission. Finally, on  April 5, 2013 we filed our suit in front of the Massachusetts court.     38 defendants –possibly even more after the discovery phase reveals anonymous administrators —  will have to give the judge and jury some explanations and prove that statements like:
” Let’s Adopt! is a criminal organization”
” Let’s Adopt! tortures dogs”
or
” Someone needs to expose these criminals and murderers”

Let’s Adopt! Global believes in justice and fairness. We will therefore leave this matter in the hands of the Massachusetts Courts, where the burden of proving these terrible lies about us is on those that made those lies.

We want to thank our closest friends and supporters that have already contributed to our Legal Fund and would like to encourage our followers to help us in this quest for justice. For years you have followed our work. Be on our side once again and help us in this legal battle by donating to our Legal Fund and settling this matter once and for all.

Thank you

The Board of Directors of Let’s Adopt Global

What I am going to tell you is an open secret.

Everyone in the rescue world knows it, every shelter manager is aware of it, and each one of us, to a certain extent, is responsible for it. 

Most animal lovers are racists. Granted, it’s an subconscious kind of racism but aren’t they all after all?

The truth is, we don’t see black dogs and cats. On the net, their pictures are overlooked, black spots on an page otherwise full of color. We just don’t pay attention. To all effects they are INVISIBLE.

Black dogs and cats are usually the first ones to die in shelters. Most of the time they don’t even get the chance to be shown to families, they are black anyway, who is going to want them? It’s called Black Dog Syndrome. Did you know there was such a thing?

So people enter Facebook, or pass through the shelters quickly, and they rush to the white and the yellow dogs.. but what happened to the little black mutt sitting, invisible, in the last cage down the corridor? He will be the first one to die.

And so.. What will happen to Toty?

We don’t know the circumstances of Toty’s birth, or how he ended up at the pound with a broken leg, but we know he was there, unable to step on his back leg. Broken.

Can you imagine? a black sickly puppy with a broken leg sitting in the last cage at the end of a long corridor in a dog pound.

AS A DOG, how unlucky can you be? How much worst things can get?

Luckily or Toty one of our friends went to the pound and has brought him to us. He has been sooo incredibly lucky, his leg is badly broken and without and operation he would never ben able to walk again.

So, the challenge is double… will Toty manage to keep people’s attention to get to this point?

Will people shed away their black bias and help Toty get operated and be able to walk again?

Toty is now sitting in a cage at our clinic, other than his broken leg he is healthy and in good spirits. We can’t operate him until Monday for a double reason. Our surgeon is away for the weekend AND, most importantly, we can’t operate him until we have raised the funds necessary for the operation. As you know Let’s Adopt is currently under severe financial constraint and we shouldn’t be taking new cases, but if we didn’t take on Toty’s case, he would very likely die or spend the rest of his life limping and in pain… He’s a black dog, it will be very difficult to raise enough funds, but we must try…

Please, if you have made it to here.. give us a hand with Toty’s operation… any contribution will do, it doesn’t mean much for one person but it’s going to mean EVERYTHING for Toty..

—

UPDATE WEDNESDAY 8 MAY

The operation went great!!! Toty was a real trooper, what a brave little baby!!!!
Here he is… totally black, totally AWESOME!!!

Now… we must find him a home!. If you would like to add Toty to your family please write to me on viktor@myletsadopt.com and tell me everything about you and your family, let’s decide, together, if Toty would be a good fit to your family.

As always, these operations can take place thanks to the combined efforts of the Let’s Adopt Global community.  Please, if you can, donate so that we can continue saving lives like Toty!.

Many many thanks

Viktor

Before you read this, please help us find a home for this incredible cat, Don Vito, by sharing this post in your social networks… and now please… come in, meet a shinning star..

Don Vito came to us on a rainy evening in January. I remember that night as it if was today. It was cold, wet and miserable, typical European winter. Our clinic was full that day. We had animals that had just been operated, our nurses could barely find enough time to tend all the sick and injured. But then Vito crossed through the door.

I will never forget his face as he was pulled out of that cage. He was terrified, his pupils completely dilated showed fear and angst but he was too weak to fight.

Don Vito had been found laying on a pool of mud. He was badly injured and the only thing the local vet could come up with was a spray for muscle pain. Some vet that one…

We couldn’t bear the thought of this poor kitty dying there without a chance, and we organized to have him brought to us.

The initial tests were awful. Not only was he positive to Feline Leukemia (Blood Cancer), but all his other parametres were off the scale. Multiple points of infection were eating him alive, his weakened body had been fighting as much as he could but it had already begun to shut down. His levels told us he wouldn’t make it through the night.

We are fortunate to work with a vet that fully shares our position on euthanasia and that he would not take that route before exhausting every other option, but even didn’t have much hope. Alvaro looked at me and told me to be ready as there would very likely be a point where we would have to put an end to his suffering… and right after he said that, we got to work.

Don Vito received a blood transfusion that night. That emergency procedure saved his life.

Over the next two months Vito was at deaths door a couple of times, but he always pulled through. His immense strength and determination to survive carried him through… for now.

This is Don Vito TODAY!!!

All life is priceless… but Don Vito’s survival came at at enormous cost of a medical bill of thousands that was fully covered by our fund, there were no appeals, this case like so many others was never public…

Don Vito will have a prosperous life, but it won’t be a long one… At some point sometime in the future Leukemia will win the battle and will take his life. But he won’t die in the miserable conditions in which he arrived to us, weak and scared. He will die surrounded by a loving family that will kiss him goodbye.

Feline Leukemia is a mortal disease with no known cure, but its not contagious to humans or dogs. WE MUST FIND A SPECIAL FAMILY FOR DON VITO. A family that will understand that this amazing cat will be with them only temporarily, and that one day, maybe not too far away will leave them. A special family that will truly understand the meaning of the word COMPASSION.

Please, if you feel you are that kind of family, if you feel Vito has reached to your heart and lodged itself in there… please write to me on viktor@myletsadopt.com telling me everything about you and your family. 

Please offer a last few years to this incredible animal that has fought so much and inspired so many…

Once again: viktor@myletsadopt.com

Please help us find a home for Don Vito by sharing this post in your social networks… 

Viktor

Don Vito llego a nosotros una noche de lluvia en Enero, la recuerdo como si fuera hoy. Una noche fria, húmeda, gris y misera. Nuestra clínica estaba llena de animales recién operados, nuestros veterinarios y enfermeras sin apenas contar con un minuto de descanso. En esas condiciones Don Vito cruzo por la puerta.

Nunca olvidare su cara mientras lo sacaban de la caja. Estaba aterrorizado, sus dilatadas pupilas mostraban el horror y la angustia de un animal moribundo, demasiado debil para luchar.

Don Vito había sido encontrado tirado en un charco en las condiciones que podéis ver en estas fotos. Así, fue llevado a un veterinario rural que como solución le aplico un spray. Se lució con su cura.. se lució.

Cuando nos enteramos del caso pedimos por favor que nos lo trajeran ya que sabíamos que eramos su única oportunidad.

Las analíticas iniciales dieron unos resultados catastróficos. No sólo era Don Vito positivo a la Leucemia (cancer en la sangre) sino que todos sus otros parámetros estaban completamente fuera de las escalas. Múltiples focos de infección se lo estaban comiendo vivo, su débil cuerpo luchó todo lo que pudo pero estaba al borde del colapso. Todo indicaba que moriria aquella misma noche.

Tenemos la fortuna de trabajar con un equipo veterinario que comparte nuestro entendimiento de la eutanasia y que jamas tomaría esa ruta antes de haber agotado todas las opciones, pero ni tan siquiera el tenia demasiadas esperanzas. Así, me miro y me dijo que me preparase para el peor desenlace y que seguramente Don Vito debería ser eutanasiado aquella misma noche. Acto seguido nos pusimos a trabajar.

Unas horas mas tarde Don Vito recibía una transfusión de sangre. Esa transfusión le dio el soplo vital que necesitaba, y estamos seguro de que esa noche le salvo la vida.

Durante los dos meses siguiente Don Vito estuvo al borde de la muerte en un par de ocasiones, pero siempre salio victorioso. Fuerza, determinación, HAMBRE DE VIVIR… ese es Don Vito.

Ninguna vida tiene precio, pero la supervivencia de Don Vito tuvo un coste que fue cubierto por nuestro fondo. No tuvimos ocasión de lanzar llamamientos para ayudarle, nuestras reservas cubrieron los costes de un tratamiento fuera del alcance de la mayoría de protectoras. Había que hacerlo y se hizo… y se hizo bien..

Este es Don Vito hoy!!

Afectado por la Leucemia la vida de Don Vito no sera larga, pero sera próspera. Llegara el dia en que la enfermedad gane la batalla pero Don Vito no morira en las condiciones terribles en las que llego a nosotros. Don Vito morirá rodeado por una familia que le querrá y le acompanara en esos momentos envolviéndole de amor.

Don Vito es uno de los gatos mas especiales que hemos conocido. Pasión por la vida es poco cuando hablamos de el.. Vito tiene pasión por los sofás, por las camas, por los regazos humanos, y por la comida. Su apetito es voraz y parece decido a vivir el momento, comiendo ahora lo que nunca comió

La enfermedad de Don Vito es mortal Y CONTAGIOSA A OTROS GATOS, pero no al ser humano. Por eso, Don Vito necesita una casa especial, una en la que ya exista un gato con Leucemia o que no tenga ningún otro gato en estos momentos.

Hace falta una persona muy especial para adoptar a un animal que sabemos que a pesar de estar lleno de energía y ganas de vivir no vivirá por mucho tiempo. Esa familia adoptara a Vito sabiendo que dentro de poco sentirá el dolor de la perdida. Hace falta alguien muy especial para hacer algo así.

Desafortunadamente no todo el mundo es así… pero estamos convencidos de que al menos habrá UNA FAMILIA EN ESPAÑA que tenga la suficiente compasión para adoptar a Don Vito…

La encontraremos? Podrías ser tu esa familia?

Escribeme a viktor@myletsadopt.com y cuentame todo sobre tu y tu familia. Ayudanos a darle unos últimos años maravillosos a este gato tan especial.

Por favor comparte este blog en tus redes sociales… Don Vito busca una familia… Ayudanos a encontrarla..

Viktor

I love you in a place
Where there’s no space or time
I love you for in my life
You are a friend of mine
And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and
I was singing this song for you

Neil Diamond

I never intended to write this post.  The pictures and videos that accompany it are part of the Let’s Adopt! private files, part of our history, the work that noone sees. As I have explained many times, the rhythm of posting on Facebook only allow us to post about 1/10th of our work but it’s behind that wall that the endless and selfless work hundreds of volunteers takes place. Today, you are going to see the essence of Let’s Adopt! Global.

Sometimes I wished everyone could see what we are doing at any given time, but then I realize it’s how difficult that is, the organization has grown too big and it’s so scattered across the world that it would be impossible to even try. This is one of such stories.

A few months ago we received a desperate email from the United States. In it we could read the heart-wrenching story of a good woman and her cat, Chachi, a cat that because of a mixture of a misdiagnosis and callousness had been allowed to go untreated for a cancerous growth.

The medical protocol would have demanded a biopsy upon discovery and chemotherapy to reduce the size and possibly do away with the tumor all together. Unfortunately, Chachi’s owner couldn’t afford the extortionate prices requested to treat him. It was either pay many thousands of dollars or have Chachi euthanized for the bargain price of a couple of hundred bucks.

She couldn’t do either, instead she did her best to make his life as bearable as possible whilst looking for a miracle…

During the following months, as Chachi’s tumor grew to the point where he could not use his jaw any longer and could barely eat, the owner tried desperately to search for support among animal welfare organizations and rescues. Nothing… noone even replied to her pleas, and even less offered to help Chachi in any way.

And then… and then she found us.

Initially we tried to have Chachi treated in Virginia, where he was based, but it became painfully obvious that this option wouldn’t work. At that point we decided to fly Chachi to Spain for treatment. To have chemotherapy at this late stage was not an ideal solution, it should have been done much earlier, but at the same time there was no metastasis so there was still a chance. WE HAD TO TRY.

Chachi’s journey started with a quick internal flight from Virginia to Boston where he rested for a couple of days before starting his intercontinental adventure. On the second leg of the trip, on the flight that would take him from Boston to Valencia via Paris, Chachi was accompanied by our friend, Gary, a giant of a man with a equally oversized heart for animals. Chachi went on a journey and he saw the world…

How many people do you know that will jump short notice on a plane to fly across the world to take to the vet an ailing cat he’s never met? I know one.. my friend Gary.

It was an extremely moving moment. Greeting Gary and Gary and Chachi at the airport made me realize once again how far Let’s Adopt! had gone from our early days in Turkey. How many animals we had saved, the people we had managed to help and inspire, showing them that every life matters. How many lives we’d changed… All of that crossed through my mind whilst I reached towards Chachi’s travelling bag to look at him for the first time.

All these hopes quickly turned to anger and frustration when we started evaluating Chachi’s state. There he was, in front of me, once a magnificent animal, now laying down, consumed by an untreated cancer allowed to grow out of control by a mixture of greed and ignorance. There he was, a living being that most animal organizations had considered “unworthy of being helped”. Why helping an animal in such critical condition when there are so many others to save? That is usually the rhetorical question people pose themselves when they have decided to do nothing. Needless to say, that’s not a question we ever place ourselves. Our rationale is: is there ANYONE else willing to handle a particular rescue better than us? If there is, we leave it to them… Sadly, noone bothered helping Chachi. We truly were his last hope.

We had to stabilize him first, strengthen him to the point where he could receive treatment for his tumor. We knew it would be hard, but we had to try.

During his time with us Chachi showed us the wonderful depth of his character and we understood why his owner could never euthanize him, why she made the ultimate sacrifice to entrust her beloved friend to a perfect stranger rather than kill him before giving him one real shot, one real chance to be cured.

For weeks he lived with us, for weeks we saw him gain strength, day after day, his tumor diminish in size, his appetite returned, voracious, his will to live to go on, undiminished.

We retained the services of one of the best oncologists in the country, someone formed in the best US schools, ironically,  the same ones that refused to help when Chachi was there. He had an specifically designed chemotherapy protocol. It was aggressive, but it was his only chance.

Chachi went through the first round of chemotherapy, and his tumor decreased in size significantly. We had hope, and we could see that Chachi was feeling better.

All those hopes came to an abrupt end upon his THIRD round of chemo… suddenly, like if the sudden realization of the magnitude of his fight had dawned on him, Chachi gave up and within a few hours he would leave us, saddened and torn by the fact that we couldn’t help him, that he had arrived to us too late, but happy that he was giving a real fighting chance, and that he was treated with the dignity and respect every animal deserves.

Chachi’s ashes flew back to the United States, they went home, to her friend that let him go and was anxious to have him back.

This was Chachi.. this is how he lived, and this is how he died. We owed to him to tell his story. And we owed to you, our friends and supporters,we had to show you what Let’s Adopt does, the kind organization you are a part of. An organization that will think nothing of flying an ailing animal across the world at great expense in search of a chance of life. An animal that wasn’t public, mediatic, but that not because of that was treated differently, or was any less important that any other of our rescues.

Chachi lives now in our memories. Forever.

Chachi’s rescue was only possible thanks to our operating fund, the safety net that allows to do the 90% of the work very few see, and where animals like Chachi are provided help, across the world, every day of the year.

Please, if you feel this is something worth supporting, feel free to donate to our fund on Chachi’s memory…