This is the face of enduring trust and forgiveness. Lula was rescued by Finding A Best Friend Rescue in Stockton. Focusing on helping animals at homeless camps we found Lula tied up, very pregnant and emaciated. We don’t know how long she had been there and no one claimed her.  Luckily a woman quickly stepped up to foster Lulu. Having just lost both her fur babies within months of each other, Lula’s foster mom needed Lula to heal and Lula certainly needed her. She named her Lula after her a little girl she knew who successfully beat cancer with grit and determination. Lula had that same spirit and needed the name sake. Lula wasn’t using a hind leg and we knew we’d have to address a very expensive surgery after she had her babies. Ten days after we rescued her,  she delivered 6 puppies and 4 survived. She was such a good mama. At barely 2 years old, it was clear she had already done this several times before. Clearly in pain she attended to her babies and in between only wanted to cuddle with her foster mom. A week after delivering we had to rush Lula to the emergency vet with an infected teat (mastitis). Four days later the antibiotics weren’t helping and we were losing Lula. Rushed back to emergency late in the night, the infection was lanced and Lula was hospitalized. The rescue bottle fed the babies while Lula pushed on to recover. Now Lula was even more skinny and our hearts broke for her as we tried everything to encourage her to eat more.  When she was released from the hospital, she didn’t understand where her babies had gone. If we could have only told her we kept them safe for her. More heartbreak for sweet Lula but she never hated humans who had not only let her down all her life but caused her such pain and misery. A full month of antibiotics finally helped Lula successfully fight the infection. Her long road to adoptability finally went forward with vaccinations, spaying and X-rays to determine what was going on with the hind leg. Finally she could have pain medicine now the babies were gone. X-rays revealed that  Lula had a some point, suffered trauma to her hip, perhaps being hit by a car and fracturing her hip. No one ever helped her except to tie her up and leave her. The treatment for her bone on bone hip now is to remove the ball of the hip joint and later intense physical therapy to get the muscles strong to hold the partially remaining joint in place, kind of creating a false joint. Another awful, painful ordeal for Lula is ahead. It was so difficult to drop Lula off for spaying. After all she had been through, we couldn’t tell her that we were helping her. The fear in her eyes was heartbreaking as we tearfully had to hand her over. She’s recovered from spaying, finally is eating more but has horrible separation anxiety now from her foster mom. And she seems to have allergies that aren’t responding to anything. It’s unbelievable that Lula still trusts any human. Now on February 2, we have to hand her over again for her hip surgery. It’s feels like we’re constantly torturing her. We can’t explain that we are really helping her. When we rescue a dog from the homeless camps we never know what we are facing to get them the help they need. Of course we try to take the ones who need us the most. For a little rescue of 4 women supported entirely by donations, we usually have much higher medical costs than what our adoption fee covers. But Lula has been our greatest financial challenge. She has a running total medical expense so far of over $5,000. This is crushing for a little rescue supported entirely in donations. We’ve done fundraisers and maxed out our credit cards to get Lula what she needs. There are still so many dogs that have medical problems at the homeless camps. These times of covid have been devastating on nonprofits, including us. Yet during these times, more and more animals are needing rescue as these tough economic times crush so many families. We are hoping to raise the money Lula needs for her surgery ($4,000) plus some for her physical therapy during recovery. We don’t know exactly what the physical therapy and post op care will cost but if there is more raised than Lula needs, it will go toward helping other dogs like Lula from the homeless camps. We spay/neuter and vaccinate the pets of the homeless but often these animals are neglected and/or abused so we get them the medical treatment they need and then adopt them into loving, forever homes. Unfortunately the huge expense Lula has presented us with has made it even more difficult than ever to be able to cover the medical costs we are incurring with so many animals needing help. And Lula may end up needing to see an allergy specialist in the future. One rescued dog costing so much money. Many pet owners will spend whatever is necessary to get their beloved pets the care and help they need. As a rescue dog, do we put a limit on what a dog is worth? We can’t do that. We rescued her and we are determined to see it through. And Lula is so worth it. When you meet her she is the sweetest, most loving dog and everyone falls in love with her because she is so gentle and forgiving after all she’s been through. Yet we hope that Lula’s expenses won’t keep us from helping as many other animals in the homeless camps as we can. We’re asking for help if you can donate. For Lula, and for all the dogs/animals who don’t have the voice to ask for help. Thank you.