If you follow me on instagram you are definitely aware that Matt and I have brought a new puppy into our household. This was far from expected or planned, but such is the nature of veterinary medicine and animals in need. If you are not familiar with our new canine face, I’d like to introduce you to Frankie (aka Frank the tank, aka baby shark, aka the cutest face on the planet) and tell you his story.

The first I had heard of Frankie or his predicament was from our receptionist. She came back into ICU while I was on shift to let me know that she had just taken a call from a man. His puppy had been run over by a car 3 days ago, and the puppy was very painful and wouldn’t eat. He would be bringing the puppy in shortly, but didn’t have a lot of money. I believe my response to her was something along the lines of “well we can at least do a “good samaritan” euthanasia for him”. [ this is a free euthanasia for critically ill/sick pets brought in by good samaritans or when owners do not have the finances available to  provide care or end the suffering of their pets].

Much to my surprise when this puppy arrived at our clinic he was bright and giving kisses, had no visible external wounds, was ambulatory (walking), and had no neurologic deficits ( relevance of this will be apparent soon!). I did everything in my power to keep this puppy with his family. His injuries appeared minor. We discussed strict activity restriction and pain control. I paid for pain medications myself and gave away my services (free examination). I did discuss transferring of ownership if medical management was unsuccessful in mitigating the puppies pain or if finances continued to be an issue in providing the puppy with additional veterinary care; solely as an option of last resort. Ultimately, the pain medications were not enough and the puppy remained painful and inappetant at home.  The man elected to transfer ownership of his puppy to me. This is not a decision he made lightly but one he made for the benefit of his puppy.

There are a few points here I’d like to clarify and expound on. While it is common for emergency veterinarians to encounter clients with financial restrictions - and truly is our job to provide the best care possible within the restriction of a client’s financial situation -  the signing over of a pets is not a common occurrence. And let us be clear here - this is not something we, as veterinarians or veterinary staff, WANT to do. I never want to separate a pet from its family. Transferring ownership is an option of absolute last resort. It’s an option that is last even after donating services and medications and discounting or eliminating costs. I would rather Work. For. Free and spend MY OWN money than seperate a pet from its family. When a pet is signed over SOMEONE still has to take financial responsibility for the pets immediate care and either provide the pet with a long term home or find it a suitable long term home. This is also not something we take lightly. I would NEVER put pressure on my (already overworked, underpaid, staff) to spend their money on someone else’s pet. Not because I don’t think they would, quite to the contrary - Individuals in the veterinary profession are compassionate to a fault and they would quite literally bankrupt themselves to save a life. To project that responsibility of a pets life onto staff or ask them to contribute financially to another person’s pet is unfair, and something I work hard to avoid doing.

Additionally, the option to transfer ownership is most often reserved for non-critical patients with a good long term prognosis. Veterinary Medicine is unique in that we have the option of performing euthanasia. Euthanasia is never a wrong choice if it means ending the suffering and pain of a pet. In fact it is my opinion that this is a fundamental responsibility and consideration of pet ownership.  In Veterinary Emergency Medicine we live the reality that we cannot save every pet. There are many unique factors and nuances in our field that contribute to this reality, of which I won’t expound on here. [This may be something I touch on in a different post - so if you are interested, please leave me a comment below or send me a message]

Ok but back to Frankie!

So after Frankie was signed over Matt and I initially thought we would pay for his care and foster him through his ordeal and ultimately find him a forever home. And when I say “initially” I mean in the first few minutes after I said “hey this puppy needs care” and Matt said “ok”. Immediately after Matt delivered him to our clinic he knew we would “foster fail”. We are huge suckers.

After making it back to the clinic the first thing we had to do was determine what was physically wrong leading to him being so profoundly painful. Much to my surprise, radiographs revealed that Frankie had suffered a broken back after being rolled over by a car in the driveway. Here I was expecting something simple like a fractured pelvis, but the radiographs before me were saying something very different.

To say that Frankie is lucky is a bit of an understatement. Not only did he not have any neurologic deficits to go with this injury but he was signed over in a hospital that has two wonderful Veterinary Neurologists. I immediately texted our on-call Neurologist and a swift plan for definitive care was put into place.

Frankie received a CT scan and surgical stabilization the very next day. Post operatively Frankie had some very mild neurologic deficits. He was ataxic (weak) in his hind limbs and required some sling stabilization and support to walk. Frankie’s post surgical plan included pain and anti-inflammatory medications and very strict activity restriction. Anti-anxiety and sedating medications were imperative in achieving this. I can now empathize with owners and their struggle in achieving activity restriction in young, otherwise healthy dogs. Medications are definitely our friends in these scenarios. We definitely weren’t perfect. Like that one time Frankie pulled through his leash at work and sprinted back down the hallway towards ICU, all the while turning back to look at me with the largest, most dopey grin on his face. “LOOK MOM, LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!”

*face palm*

But we did the best we could!

Frankie received some physical therapy during his recovery period including passive range of motion exercises and a gradual increase to the unevenness of the surface area that he was walking on ie) smooth floors to grassy ground to stepping over obstacles. Frankie’s ataxia resolved within the first week and he was able to support his own weight without the sling. During his activity restriction we discovered what a smart and food motivated puppy he is! [ we got so lucky in so many ways! ] Before he was four months old Frankie knew sit, down, wait, spin, reverse, high five, shake, touch, and speak. [ SO PROUD! ]

Frankie is now 9 weeks post op this coming Saturday and completely off of his activity restriction. His only remaining abnormality is his wonky tail. He is living his best life, playing with his new brothers - mostly Wallace - playing with toys, learning tricks and cuddling hard. He’s (mostly) potty trained, interested in the cats, obsessed with food (impending foreign body obstruction i’m sure), and all around a very happy happy puppy. His future plans include numerous puppy play dates (one more vaccine to go!), puppy basic obedience class, and some trail adventures!

I cannot thank our Neurology team enough for the swift and thorough care they provided Frankie and for the ICU team for the attention and care they provided him while he was hospitalized. I really do work with some wonderful compassionate people. If you have any questions about Frankie or anything I’ve discussed here, please leave a comment below or send me a comment directly.  You can expect that for the foreseeable future my IG stories and feed will be clogged with posts about this little man. Until then, I leave you with this gallery of Frankie Images <3