Vet saves family's dog with free surgery
January 02, 2009
NATASHA LINDSTROM, Staff Writer - Victorville Daily Press - www.vvdailypress.com
HESPERIA • Bawling like a baby, Cheri Taylor said goodbye to her family dog at Hesperia Animal Hospital the day after Christmas. She couldn’t afford to pay $3,000 for the major surgery that her 13-month-old pit bull needed to survive, so Taylor paid about $350 to put her down.
Four days later, Taylor, her husband and four kids received the best belated Christmas present they could have asked for: The veterinarian had saved the dog’s life for free.
“I don’t know if it’s a Christmas miracle or if God was just watching over us, but it is just amazing to me that (the vet) would just do that,” said Taylor, 43, of Victorville. “We couldn’t believe it.”
The dog — a black, blue-nose pit bull named Brinks — had been sick for about three weeks. After an examination, Dr. Shafeeq Ahmed, owner of Hesperia Animal Hospital, said Brinks had a serious blockage in his abdominal cavity, which had likely been caused by eating from the garbage.
Devastated by the news, Taylor and her husband paid to euthanize the dog and left the office in tears.
“I sat down on my desk, and I thought, ‘This is the family dog,’ and it’s the holidays, so if I can do something, I should do it,” Ahmed said. “It took me about three minutes to make the decision.”
Ahmed spent a little more than an hour on the major surgery, which rang up nearly $3,000 in medical costs, and he stayed until almost midnight that night to ensure the dog was recovering well.
“You don’t work for the money, you have to really care for these babies,” Ahmed said. “And I’m blessed to have a beautiful and caring wife who understands when I spend my time and money on cases for the good cause.”
On Friday Taylor fed Brinks her medicine — also provided by Ahmed for free — while the dog hung out with the family in her new Pittsburgh Steelers jersey, a family Christmas present.
To thank Ahmed, Taylor purchased 10 fleece blankets that she will be donating to the animal hospital for dog cages — “the least I could do,” she said.
Ahmed said he regrets he cannot provide free services to every family in need, and he must make tough life-and-death decisions every day.
During a Daily Press interview Friday, Ahmed sat debating whether to save another family’s dog, a 5-month-old Chihuahua mix with the same blockage problem. Ahmed said he kept thinking about the sad young boy who dropped off the dog to be put down.
“I’m just sitting here and thinking, ‘What I should do?’” Ahmed said. “This is New Year’s, and I am very busy, but I still told my technicians not to euthanize that pet yet, to just hold on.
“I can’t do everybody’s, but who knows, maybe I’ll give good news to this kid who was crying. Some dogs are savable — I can save some.”
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