What would you do for your own dog?
How do you know when it’s the right time to hold on and keep fighting?
Or when it’s time to let go?
When this dog has only been in your care less than 24 hours.
Someone starved this dog. Someone neglected this dog. And then Animal Control brought the dog into Wichita Animal Shelter on Friday. Kansas Humane Society didn’t even bother to medically evaluate this dog until Monday—for two and a half days he suffered. Now, even under emergency vet top care, he’s still suffering with no answers.
Multiple blood panels drawn and still no answers.
What should we do?
He’s not diabetic. Kidneys and liver are still ok. His white blood cell count is still in the 80,000s. Waiting for an ultrasound, but with his body fat so low, they don’t think there will be answers then—but they don’t know. We were hoping it was a severe infection, but nothing has changed overnight with heavy IV antibiotics.
Next option: he needs a feeding tube. He’s young. He barely had a chance to live, and given the life he has lived, I doubt it was a good one.
Right now, Mikhal is dying.
We have no answers, but we aren’t giving up.
What would you do if he was your dog?
What’s the right thing to do?
When it comes to knowing the right time to let go or keep fighting, it’s never a clear-cut decision—and he’s barely in our care 24 hours. But how can we possibly give up without exploring every option?
Quality of life, pain and suffering, and hope for recovery are all things we consider when making these dreaded decisions (never financial, even though every single month we struggle to make ends meet).
The darn thing is no one can give clear interpretations of each of those.
Of course his quality of life isn’t good. He’s in the hospital due to severe neglect, some unknown illness, and starvation. But if we can find out the root cause of his illness, then his quality of life will be better.
Of course he’s in pain. He’s on pain management, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t suffering.
So what’s the right thing to do?
We are trying to find out with more tests if there is hope, if there is no hope, if only God can heal him—we help him cross. But in the interim… we did not cause his suffering. I do NOT believe we are prolonging it by trying to find a way to save him.
At 2 or 3 years old, someone has to believe he may get a miracle… he deserves to get a miracle.
Ultimately, the right choice is the one where we feel we’re acting out of love and compassion for what Mikhal is going through.
No choice has been made. We are still praying nonstop. But whatever his path is, we promise every decision will be made with love. Right or wrong—we did not cause his suffering; other humans did—but we will love him as fiercely and fervently as possible for as long as possible, as long as there is hope and he isn’t prolonged suffering. ❤️
As soon as we have an update, we’ll let you know. I know I don’t see the world the way others do, and that’s OK. Everyone in A&F has 100% the absolute best interest of every animal in our care, but we all view the world differently. Which makes us beautiful—to where we can debate what’s best for an animal and work towards finding the best way (which may not always be right—we are human).
When we lead with love, God always knows our hearts. With pure intentions, I’m not really sure we’re ever wrong. I don’t know though. All I know is we love Mikhal.
We are all fighting for him and praying for him to fight. In a very cruel world that could always use a miracle, I hope if there is one extra one today, God chooses to use it on him.