Labor Day started off quietly at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (AWLA) — until the first call came in through the police department. An Alexandria citizen named Maria had found a badly injured dog in her front yard and needed help.
AWLA Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Animal Services Tony Rankin answered the call and took off immediately for Maria’s home. There he found an emaciated three-year-old terrier mix with a severely damaged back paw. “She was in terrible condition,” Rankin remembered.
Rankin wrapped the dog, whom Maria was calling Lacey, in a blanket and rushed her to Springfield Animal Hospital, where the wound was cleaned. When he picked Lacey up later that day, it was apparent she would need extensive care. The shelter began a daily regimen of regular bandage changes, antibiotics, pain medicine and supplements to address an extremely low level of red blood cells.
Rankin kept Lacey in his office during the day and quickly noticed the dog’s gregarious personality. Despite the severity of her wound, she was amazingly friendly and affectionate, he said, lying down compliantly when it was time to change her bandage.
“Lacey loved people,” recalled AWLA Veterinary and Foster Care Coordinator Sharla Hargis, who helped change bandages and administer medicine to her. “And she would even gobble a pill right out of my hand as if it was a treat.”
Despite the daily care, Lacey’s paw was deemed too damaged to save, leaving amputation as the only option. The AWLA mounted a social media and email campaign to raise the necessary funds to pay for the surgery and a possible blood transfusion. The Alexandria community’s overwhelming response drew enough funds for the operation as well as money to support the shelter’s Sarah’s Fund, which helps animals in similar situations.
Once Lacey’s red blood count was safe, she returned on Sept. 28 to the Springfield facility for her surgery. True to her nature, Lacey bounced back almost immediately. “She learned to walk so quickly,” Hargis said. “She was running two days after the amputation, and we had to put her on a short leash. She loved going outside, and I was just trying to keep her big, bubbly personality in check so as not to disrupt her recovery.”
As she recovered, a surprise was in store for Lacey: Maria, who had originally found the injured dog, had decided that Lacey had chosen her for a reason when she stopped in her yard on that Labor Day, so Maria decided to make her a permanent member of their family. Maria adopted Lacey on Oct. 13. “We were happy to see her find a new family, but a little sad too,” recalled Hargis. “We met Maria in the lobby where we were getting Lacey ready, and there were few dry eyes in the room.”
If you’d like to donate to Sarah’s Fund to help the AWLA provide another animal like Lacey with the urgent treatment they need, please visit AlexandriaAnimals.org/Sarah.
Lacey looked so much better after her surgery. (Photo courtesy Dirty Paw Photography)
This story was originally printed in the Alexandria Gazette on November 16 (page 6).