Do it for Dana
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As Harrison and I sit here trying to come up with the words to write, we are feeling extremely overwhelmed, hesitant and unsure about this entire GoFundMe situation. If you know us at all you know how much we both struggle asking for help, especially when it comes to financial assistance. We have gone back and forwards 10 times over regarding the entire scenario but in the end we realised it’s okay to put yourself out there and surrender to a circumstance that is just too big to handle on your own. We thank the people that have encouraged us to create this as it has made the process a lot easier for us.
Dana our beautiful foster dog is urgently needing hip replacement surgery and we are asking you to open your heart and hear her story.
This is Dana’s Story
As I am sure you all know, we have been fostering dogs regularly over the last three years. We have been lucky enough to find a forever home for all 15 of the four legged friends (minus Dennis) that have come our way and we feel we have been blessed with so many beautiful puppies over this time.
Rewind to February this year, Harrison and I were fostering a cute little 1 year old dog named Mags. Mags was a very hyper active jack russel that required a lot of attention and work so you can imagine we had our hands full with 4 dogs. A couple of days after collecting Mags we were contacted by our rescue asking if we could please, please squeeze in one more foster dog. Her name was Dana and she was on death row at Longreach pound in central Queensland. The rescue had a vehicle arriving to the pound the next morning and she was the only dog that was going to be left behind. Left behind meant she was going to be euthanised, a very common occurrence in rural pounds. Although our house was full of dogs, when we saw her chained up we couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her there alone as she watched her friends be taken to safety.
I still remember picking her up from a car park in Brisbane and being shocked at how COVERED she was in ticks and fleas. Her coat was sticky and her back bone and ribs were showing. This dog had been neglected and hadn’t had a loving home in a long time. Regardless, still to this day was the cuddliest dog either of us had ever met. The entire drive home she tried to sit on my lap (I was driving) and no matter how many times I gently pushed her away she would try and snap her lead trying to to get closer. I remember tears rolling down my face because this poor neglected dog was still so full of love and trust in humans even though she had no reason to be.
Once she was home, our house was absolutely overflowing with dogs and although it was overwhelming, we both knew it was the it was the right decision. Thankfully she got along well with everyone and quickly become best friends with our other foster dog.
Dana began really showing her true colours after a couple of days as a beautiful, affectionate, loving dog with the most goofy, clumsy personality. She absolutely loved sleeping in the bed and soon created a pretty big gap between the two of us and I haven’t seen Harrison since haha. Although this life wasn’t one she knew, she adjusted very well and trusted us both immediately, something we hadn’t seen before.
Fast forward a few weeks and our other foster dog found her forever home while Dana patiently waited. After another month went by and we found a match. She was all set and ready to go to her new home when we decided to take her to our vet for one final check over. Previously she had been to the rescue’s vet who wasn’t as attentive as our regular vet so we decided to front the bill to make sure she was leaving with a clear health check. Only 2 minutes into the examination our vets face dropped and we instantly knew something was horribly wrong. Over $500 in x-rays later, we were told she sadly had severe hip dysplasia. We couldn’t believe what we were hearing, our hearts absolutely shattered because this was supposed to be a 5 minute check over and now we were facing an uncertain future.
After heavy discussions with the vet and many, many tears on the consult floor later, we came home to process Dana’s future. Euthanasia was immediately crossed off as there was absolutely no way we were giving up on her. We mutually decided with Dana’s new home that this could no longer go ahead as they were now unsuitable for her situation. It was at this point the rescue also had to let her go because her injury was too severe. We had them sign her over to us so she was officially our responsibility. Initially as directed by a specialist we tried to manage her pain with medication in the hope that with time she could maybe grow out of it. This treatment plan had a 50% success rate and we were absolutely hopeful this was going to work. With Dana being such a young dog our specialist wanted to try and avoid surgery as he wanted to give her the best chance of healing without being invasive. Her plan also involved lots of swimming to encourage her to use her back legs to help develop the muscles around her hips.
Six weeks of treatment went by and although we tried our hardest, sadly we saw very little change. Having to watch her in pain was incredibly heart wrenching and every time she would let out a cry, so would we. But even through all of the pain she never let it affect her happiness. She was simply just happy to be rescued, happy to have a home and happy to have a family. This fight we saw in her truly made us realise just how much she wanted to live.
Although we were more worried then we were before, we booked in again with the specialist and sadly heard the news we had been dreading. The treatment plan had been unsuccessful. It was that bad that Dr Richard said he could see the pain she was in just by watching her struggle to sit down. Dana’s current pain scale was rated at an 8/10. It was at this point Dr Richard gave us 2 options.
Option 1) A $7000 surgery that has 50% success rate. This surgery involves cutting her hip bones out and basically replacing them with plastic hips.
Option 2) A $10,000 hip replacement surgery with a 93% success rate. This is a regularly preformed procedure with almost a 100% quality of life expected afterward.
Although both of these options are a lot of money, the decision was easy for us to make as we felt there was really only one option, option number 2. This is the best option for her to give her the best quality of life. We are committed to her well-being and her future and we want her to have the greatest chance of living a pain free life. Dana has had such a rough start to life and has been through enough. She was dumped like a piece of trash and has already had humans give up on and so there is absolutely no way we are going to give up on her too.
The next year of her life is going to rough and we completely understand the complexity of this operation and it’s aftercare. She will require 1 years worth of physical therapy, medication and vet appointments but we are ready and prepared to do whatever it takes to give her the life she deserves. We wholeheartedly believe Dana was meant to fall into our hands and so we will fight with absolutely everything we’ve got. Dana needs more people to just take a chance on her. I wish you could feel through the screen just how affectionate she is and how much love she has to give. She deserves to be loved by a family of her own which we know in our hearts when the time is right we will find that family but for now she is our girl.
Words cannot even describe how grateful we will be for any assistance. If you can spare $5 or $10 to help save Dana it would mean the absolute world to us both. She is seriously the absolute sweetest dog you will ever meet and she deserves to have her own army fight for her.
Sending lots of Dana wet nose kisses and cuddles your way.
- Candice, Harrison & Dana.
Fundraising team (2)
Candice Bartlett
Organizer
Crohamhurst QLD
Harrison Varley
Team member
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