Connor's New Wheels
This is Connor. He's a happy, mostly healthy German Shepherd that my family rescued about 7 years ago, a few weeks before Christmas. He's 12 now, and the first half of his life wasn't great. Connor was abused and eventually abandoned by his first family, left tied up in a yard during the hottest months of summer with no food or water while his humans moved away without him. We're pretty sure he was likely hit as well as he was initially terrified of belts, leashes and fly swatters. Despite all that, he was still incredibly trusting and really excited when a friend and I went to adopt him and bring him home.
It's taken us years with him for him to finally be truly comfortable in the house -- he barks like a normal dog now, without fear of being beaten because of it. He gets excited because he knows which treats are his, and he lets us know when he needs to go outside. He's not afraid we're going to abandon him anymore just because he's hanging out in the backyard playing and we run in to fill up the water bowls. He has two boxes full of toys that he still loves to play with.
He has almost everything he could ever want in life, and we're happy to give it to him. He deserves that much, at least. He's been so forgiving with people, and he's always happy. He smiles in every picture you take!
What Connor doesn't have at this point is one thing he really needs, and we're stressed to be able to pay for it. About a month ago Connor was diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy, and his hind legs are beginning to lose sensation and function. He wobbles a lot, falls down, and has difficult standing up if he's been laying down. He's even busted open one of his legs by falling because he was not patient in allowing us to try to help him up. We've already spent almost $1,000 just in getting his diagonsis (x-rays, DNA test, medications, etc.), more than that if the money we spent buiding a ramp for him on the deck is included as he is no longer able to go up and down the stairs without falling. The only other thing wrong with him is that he has some arthritis in one of his hind knees -- and we're paying about $100/month for medications and supplements to help offset any pain he feels from that. We're looking into physical therapy for him, and we're not even sure what it will cost yet, but we'll find a way to pay it. What we need help with is a wheelchair for him. We would prefer to get him one that will allow him to continue using his legs as long as possible in hopes that it can be used with his physical therapy, while still giving him support and stability. We are currently looking at the Walkin' Wheels for large sized dogs, which runs $439 - $499, plus whatever the shipping would cost. We are open to suggestions if others have experiences with less expensive wheel chairs, or even an old one to donate at a lower cost or no cost.
We want to give Connor all the time he deserves, and for that time to be of the highest quality of life that we can reasonably provide him. He will not feel pain when he loses the use of his legs, and he doesn't even react as if in pain now when he falls -- the disease he has means that he will lose feeling as well as function over time. He still wants to play, he still wants to go for walks and chase toys out in the yard. We want to give him the chance to do those things.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Even with everything that we've gone through with Connor up to this point, I wouldn't trade him for the world. I honestly believe that adopting him was one of the best decisions I and my family have ever made. He has given us so much unconditional love and enjoyment, I just want to be able to do the same for him.
