Help Us Save Sandy’s Leg

About five and a half weeks ago, a sweet, limping dog wandered into my backyard. He was clearly in pain and had no collar or ID, and none of the neighbors knew who he belonged to. I let him stay the night and brought him to the only vet open on Saturdays.

After sedating him due to his pain, the vet found a small fracture in his ankle and put on a cast. The first vet bill was $450. The instructions were: keep the cast dry and keep him immobile/ in the kennel him as much as possible.

But by Monday at lunch, he had completely taken the cast off. I rushed him back to the vet after work. Thankfully, he didn’t need sedation, but they told me he had likely been chewing on it and charged $60 to reapply the cast and said he should’ve been wearing a cone the whole time.

A few days later, I was outside and a man in a truck showed up saying the dog, Sandy, was his. He said he felt bad taking the dog without contributing financially and offered to pay for half the vet bill on his Friday payday. He left that weekend for a fishing trip and never came back.

Two weeks later, Sandy and I went in for another cast. They noticed a few sores on his leg, likely from urine or water from outdoors sneaking into the cast. They sedated him again to wrap a thicker cast. That visit cost $120.

But soon after, the cast slipped off again. A new doctor gave me a second opinion and taught my friends and I how to care for the wound and rewrap it ourselves. She put on antibiotic ointment and said the old cast had too much padding, which made it easy to slip off, and the two previous splints were completely different sizes.

About a week later, she replaced the cast again and showed us how to manage it going forward. The wound looked like it was improving. He wore the cast for a little over a week. My friend went to go check on him at lunchtime today (6/2/25) and he had an accident in his kennel. Some of the cast was soiled on the outside, so she figured it was time for a bath and to take it off and rewrap it. My friend removed it to clean him up and what she saw was horrific.

⚠️ Trigger warning: graphic medical description


Underneath the cast, the "small wounds" had gotten drastically worse. There was a strong odor, chafing at the top of his leg, and two gaping wounds—one on the side of his leg and one on the bottom of his foot. Flies were already being attracted to it.

I left work, met up with my friend, and we rushed him to the vet for an emergency visit. They said it was serious and said they’d work us in right away. The new vet explained that the original vet should have stopped casting as soon as they noticed sores, prescribed antibiotics, and given us better instructions.

The cast had trapped infection, allowed swelling to worsen, and prevented us from monitoring the wound.

Right now, there’s a risk he could lose his toes or even his entire leg. We're treating him with antibiotics (oral and spray), pain meds, and daily Epsom salt soaks to draw out infection. If we can reduce swelling and promote healing, he might regain use of the leg.

Costs So Far:

• Vet Bills: $757

• Supplies (kennel, Epsom salts, cones, wraps, ointments, food, etc.): $356

• Total so far: $1,113

We’re doing everything we can to give Sandy a chance at healing. He’s such a fighter and despite everything he’s been through, he’s still SO sweet. With vet bills being so expensive and him needing to be neutered next month, I decided to make this GoFundMe to help with finances. If you’re able to contribute anything at all, I would be so grateful. Every dollar helps get him closer to healing and living a happy, pain-free life. Thank you for reading and supporting Sandy’s journey.

The YouTube video below includes pictures of the wounds.