The Rocky Dilemma

Rescuing street dogs is mentally challenging but nothing prepares you for the tough decisions you have to make.

I’ve been battling with a rescue over the last 36 hours that has been physically challenging but also involves delicate nuance, a life or death decision and impact on our operations across Happy Doggo.

Let me tell you about the amazing Rocky and hopefully you can all help me with any feedback…

I got the call yesterday morning from a kind local lady. Rocky had been dumped near a beach and he was stuck in the rocks. He had no vision, was wafer thin and was snapping at anybody who tried to touch him.

For about 4 hours I moved him between vets, trucks, Happy Doggo Land and treatment areas. It was massively stressful for me but even more so for Rocky. I could feel his heart racing and to be honest I thought he would die with me in the car.

At one stage I just started telling him stories about life as his situation was so bad I thought he might like to hear a voice as he slipped off into another world.

It couldn’t really be much worse. When I tucked him in to bed last night it was 50/50 if he would even make it through the night. I couldn’t sleep and I winced as I looked into his little suite this morning half expecting the worst.

Rocky has…

• Probable glaucoma in both eyes. Causes extreme pain and he won’t get his sight back.

• Anemia that is so bad he can’t even be given a drip or he would bleed to death

• Kidney and liver issues

• Malnutrition (probably from not being able to find food and water as he is blind)

• Skin disease, blood parasites and lots of other little issues.

The vets were surprised he was even standing up. There are solutions but they can’t all be done at once. The process will be long and complicated.

The small hospital we run is absolutely rammed packed at the moment. We have 6 dogs in ICU tonight including a burn victim and little Maple Syrup below who is recovering from a stabbing. Much as we would like to save and treat every dog out there we always have capacity issues.

Like all hospitals we have to triage patients. Basically decide who gets treated and who doesn’t.

This update popped up in our Slack (our internal communication tool) this week. It is from Maddie who runs out sterilizing partnerships. The enormity of it nearly passed me by.

That number is incredible and it will stop over 1.5 million puppies coming into this world. The amount of time, effort, money and resources that takes to plan is insane. Sometimes stopping everything we do to help one dog like little Rocky massively impedes the mission. We do have to be strict and keep to our rules to remember the bigger picture. Help 1 dog at the end of his life or help 100s of mums in need?

It is something I get told forcefully in direct messages. “Let him go”. “You are being cruel by keeping him alive”. I find those very easy to ignore because I’m the one making the decision and the people with those suggestions don’t even have his medical results.

What I do have to take much more seriously is the mission. We are a charity with finite resources. We can’t just go around fixing every dog. There is one treatment (Blood transfusion) that will cost over $1200 if we go ahead with it. It would help Rocky massively but that same amount of money would pay for 25 dogs to be sterilized and change their lives.

So the answer is probably 80% yes, we should let Rocky pass peacefully and focus on the core mission.

I spent the day with Rocky today trying to build up the confidence he needs to go through his medical procedures. Sometimes you have to go with your gut. I saw some little things today that told me we need to fight for him…

• Rocky was awake and waiting for me at 6.30am

• This might seem strange but he didn’t pee or poop in his suite. He was fastidiously clean in his little area. He waited to go outside. That’s not the action of a dog who wants to give up.

• Rocky is eating and drinking like a machine. I couldn’t carry the food and drink to him today.

• Once he felt at ease he craved human attention from me all day long.

I got him smoked salmon and put a bandana on him. His health outlook hasn’t changed massively but I wanted to make him have the most wonderful Sunday ever. His medical treatments, pain relief and comforts have started. I refuse to give up on him and if the worst comes to the worst nobody will ever take that Sunday away from him.

I know the odds are stacked against Rocky. I’m not a vet but I’d give him a 10% chance to be here this time next week as a gut feeling. He really is that sick.

I love thinking big and trying to fix the global street dog problem. But sometimes it is much more simple than that. It’s a connection between a human and an animal. If I don’t decide to save Rocky, he will die.

He hated the lead today and we struggled so much. It was only after a while that I managed to pick him up in my arms and I realized he loved that. He is blind but as his heart beat super fast next to mine and we struggled through the heat he felt at ease. His head sunk in and he trusted me. We’re in this together now.

We’ll try move heaven and Earth for Rocky this week. I told him this evening before bed that “where there is hope there is life”. I think he understood and he’s up for that. One day at a time.

Have a lovely Sunday and be kind to each other.

Big Love

Niall

P.S You can support the mission by just subscribing to this newsletter or donating to Happy Doggo here. It really does help.