Rictus

Rictus went missing on Monday. Wednesday evening we came back from a funeral and found him in our garage. We were ecstatic he was home. When we called him we realized he was severely hurt. He could hardly move and he had three large wounds. At first we thought it was a coyote attack. We rushed him to the vet. There they informed us he was very infected and had a wound to the neck, shoulder, and back. Two were so large you could see bone. They told us just to start working they needed 1000 dollars. That is a lot of money for us. We have had a hard year, with two other very large vet bills, one for a dog that was poisoned, and me starting my PhD in psychology. We put down a deposit and went home. He is family, what choice did we have? After the first surgery they called and said this wasn't a coyote attack. He has a shattered shoulder and the trauma was so bad it was almost ripped clean off. They put drains in and cleaned him up for the night. The next morning they called in a specialist and they did a second surgery. This time they found bullet fragments in his shoulder and another lodged in his back. He'd been shot. Our reaction was complete shock. How could someone do this? He is a mentally challenged, slow moving, super friendly dog. He doesn't hurt anyone and all the neighbors love him. We are very upset. We called our neighbors to update them, since we all have dogs, and found out that two others have missing dogs. Some have had their goats shot while in their pens. What is going on that someone would do this for fun and leave him to suffer and die? He is still at the vet. He has a long road ahead of him, complete with yet another surgery to remove dead tissue once everything heals a bit. We don't typically ask for help. I figured we could sell some possessions for the money, but this was suggested to me, and honestly everything will help. We don't know how much this will cost once it's all said and done. Thank you for reading, and if you can spare a donation it's greatly appreciated.