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Horse Mauled By Dogs. Help Romeo!

From Joe..........

 

Friends,

 

This is a page that I set up to help raise funds for my sister Jennifer and niece Bailey who have a loving horse named Romeo who was viciously attacked by two stray pitbulls and is now currently fighting for his life.  Please help in any way you can. We need to get Romeo back to good health so he can find his Juliet. :-)

 

From Jennifer......

 

Romeo is only two years old. He's a registered blue roan miniature horse and stands 28 inches tall and weighs in at 180 pounds. Miniatures are very social and highly intelligent and are trained as cart horses, therapy horses in hospitals, retirements homes, and even as seeing eye horses. They are companion animals to people and other equines. We wanted to train Romeo to visit retirement homes and children's hospitals so that he could bring a smile to the people in there. He is also "therapy" for my daughter who has learning challenges and her relationship with Romeo is one of pure joy. She taught him to climb the stairs and come in the house to watch TV. They watch SpongeBob together.

But now, he has suffered a devastating accident that will permanently disfigure him and possibly cost him his life. He was attacked in our backyard by two stray pitbulls who latched on to Romeo's muzzle and ripped his mouth and chin to shreds. The dogs have since been caught but have no identification and no one has claimed them. The damage to Romeo was extensive, but one by one, he has fought through each hurdle and come through better than any one of the surgeon's has expected. His eyelid was ripped but it has been stitched up and will heal; his leg was thought to have a tendon or ligament injury, but it is only tissue damage and it will heal; they weren't sure he would tolerate a feeding tube but he took it like a champ; they thought he would not graze on his own but he is munching as of this morning! Every hurdle he crosses tells me he wants to live and he is lively and strong.

He literally wiggles around when he hears our voices come to visit him. Today Bailey played SpongeBob videos for him. He is being cared for at the North Carolina State Vet School and he is in very capable and caring hands. Everyone loves him at the hospital, he flirts with every horse that walks by! The doctors have assured me I am doing the right thing for him. He will pull through this as long as we can prevent infection. He will be disfigured and we think he will lose his lower lip entirely so he will need to learn to eat again and he will look a little strange.

Why am I trying so hard to save him? Many are asking. It's because he is a member of our family, we made a committment to him, he gives us joy and we in turn give him care and love. He's not disposable or replaceable or a commodity and I don't want to teach my daughter that it's OK to live in a throw-away society where if something isn't working or gets expensive you throw it away and get another one. It certainly would have been less expensive, but it's wrong, really wrong and I can't do it.

We are going to save him, and God willing, he will recover and return to us. He is a mighty little fighter and he will have quite a story to tell when he visits people and hopefully brightens their day with his bravery and courage.

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Donations 

  • Tara Goossens
    • $20 
    • 12 yrs
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Organizer

Joe Schusler
Organizer

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