some stuff just makes me angry so deep down that i want to scream. kai is the one who has brought my rage to the surface today.
we get these dogs, sight unseen...just a call that says someone needs you and we try to squeeze them in.
sometimes they come with no history...just a number assigned from whatever pound they were in. but their stories unfold to some degree as we get to know them.
here is what i learned about kai today, and it is breaking my heart. several years ago, kai, an unneutered spanielX ate a bone. i don't know if he got it from the garbage because he was hungry or if someone just tossed it to him and didn't care.
it got stuck in the roof of his mouth, wedged between the teeth and across the palate. and there it stayed, day after day, month after month, year after year...festering painfully thru the flesh and right up thru the bone.
it hurt him...and no one saw and no one cared.
eventually the bone broke off, (there is still a calcified piece attached to one tooth) and all that was left was a huge hole in the bone at the roof of his mouth and open sore and painful tissue. it took time but it did partially heal into scar tissue everywhere except where the hole was. that stayed open for many more years making him sneeze and feel like he was choking whenever he tried to eat.
i don't know if kai was a street dog or a backyard breeders stud, all i know is that for a very long time that dog lived totally alone. no one loved him, no one cared, no one once took pity on him and tried to help him out.
finally he ended up in a pound where so many animals are killed every day that their lifeless bodies are disposed of in overflowing bins.
kai didn't die there, ace of hearts got him out before that final indignity and sent him up here.
so for almost four weeks, kai has had pain meds, he has had antibiotics, he has had a full belly, several warm beds and me following him around to wrap him in fleece. he has had my soft hands touch him, and renee's soft hands touch him, and carrie's soft hands touch him and laura's soft hands touch him and many other soft hands touch him in love.
was it enough? could it ever have been enough?
i just don't know.
rest in peace little kai, i am so very sorry your life was so hard.
you guys take such special, gentle care of our wrecked ones..i cannot thank any of you near enough.