Help Yahtzee Recover from His Accident

How many times can one pup roll the dice and keep getting bad luck? Let our boy Yahtzee tell you…

Yahtzee is a 2 years old mixed breed pup who came to us as a stray. He arrived underweight, sunburned and dealing with a few other skin issues. Despite clearly coming from a neglectful past, he was immediately a shelter favorite. He wears a huge smile that compliments his huge ears, and just wants to be everyone’s best friend. As with most dogs that we get, we were sure someone would come for him. How could they not? But the deadline came and went, and no one claimed him. We could tell how sad he was, missing his home and being in unfamiliar territory.

Despite the sad start, we were sure he’d get adopted fast! So, we got him ready for adoption, promoted him on our website and waited. It’s been a few months, and no one has come to see him yet and we just don’t understand why. Well, when we’ve got a dog as fine as Yahtzee, we like to get him as much visibility as possible. One of the ways we do that, is our volunteers take our dogs on fieldtrips around town. Everything from running errands at Home Depot to taking a hike through one of our parks is fair game! Anything to get him in front of potential adopters! Our volunteers fill out the necessary paperwork, grab a pup and an “Adopt Me” bandana, and head out on an adventure. It’s a wonderful program.

Well, Yahtzee was on one of these fieldtrips recently, and in a split second his fun adventure turned into a tragic accident. We still don’t, and probably never will, know exactly what happened, but one minute Yahtzee was sleeping in the back of a volunteer’s car, and the next minute he’d jumped out the window while the car was going roughly 40mph.

A trip to the emergency vet initially gave a diagnosis of two broken legs and dislocated kneecaps. From there we took him to an orthopedic surgeon to find out what could be done. The good news, if there is any? Apparently Yahtzee just has weird knees and the kneecaps are not dislocated and only one leg was broken. (We told you this guy was special). The bad news? The broken leg was worse than originally thought.

We were given two options to treat him, and we’ve chosen the one that will give him the best chance at a return to normal life since he is so young. His recovery will be at least eight weeks long. We’ve secured a foster home for him so he can recover in comfort, but he has a long road ahead of him.

So, we get to keep our wonderful Yahtzee and see his amazing smile, but this surgery and the emergency vet appointment has cost our small animal rescue over $6,000. We are only able to keep the lights on because of the generosity of our community through donations and endless help from volunteers. A financial hit like this is huge for our small organization. We hate to ask, but will you help us cover this boy’s medical bills?

We know he will find the right home and make a family so happy. The dice haven’t rolled in his favor yet, but maybe you can help change his luck! Please consider donating, anything helps. We are so very grateful for all of you!