Connecticut Humane Society: Emergency Medical Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The Petfinder Foundation Emergency Medical Grant was used to support orthopedic surgery for George, a senior shepherd/hound mix who was rescued and brought to Connecticut Humane by a local animal control officer.
Connecticut Humane has a wonderful and talented full-time veterinary staff that treats a broad spectrum of pet illnesses and injuries. That said, specialized surgery like the one that George required for his leg is outside their realm of expertise. This grant enabled George to receive the care he needed from an outside orthopedic specialist. The senior pup had gone through so much in his life, and access to this surgery was a matter of quality of life. Thank you!
How many pets did this grant help?
1
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
George was on the run. The 8-year-old pooch was understandably panicked and confused—he was hurting from cuts on his body, and his hind leg wouldn’t work as he tried to run around town. It took three days, but Plainville Animal Control Officer Donna Weinhofer was able to rescue him and finally get him the help he desperately needed. It’s unclear what kind of trauma left George so badly injured, but the lacerations appeared as though they may have been inflicted by a knife. To start, he needed x-rays for his leg and treatment for the gashes. He later had his leg surgically repaired by an orthopedic specialist. Fast forward a few months and the German shepherd/hound mix was ready to find a forever home, having received veterinary care through CHS with help from the Petfinder Foundation’s $1,000 grant.
With limited financial and medical resources, ACOs are rarely able to provide routine preventative care or treatment for medical conditions, and more extensive care is cost-prohibitive. That’s why CHS offers pro bono adoption and medical services to pets from animal-control and rescue partners—everything from spays, neuters and vaccinations for healthy pets, to complicated surgeries for health conditions. Sometimes they go back to their original facility for adoption, and other times, they’re adopted through CHS. Thanks to CHS’s partnerships with ACOs and other organizations, more pets like George are given a second chance.
George was fostered by ACO Weinhofer, and as soon as he was medically cleared, he was adopted into the home of a loving family in Pennsylvania, where he now happily lives with his pet parents and his two other puppy siblings. He keeps all of his fans updated on his Facebook page: http://bit.ly/2wO4L8h. And thanks to the grant funding and generous donors, the veterinary department will have room for the next George who arrives needing a healing touch and a second chance.
