RESCUE TAILS / Nala

I’ve never seen a young adult dog so sick before. She was carried in, ribs showing, eyes filled with green discharge. She vomited and laid in it, unable to even move herself from the mess. The man carrying her claimed she was a stray dog and that he knew nothing of her condition.

Our staff snapped into action and rushed her to the closest Veterinarian. There, they tested for a highly contagious and deadly virus called Distemper. The test would take several days to come back with a result, and she still needed emergency medical care. We drove her down to Keys Animal ER where she would remain for weeks with a medical mystery.

Dr. Jason and Dr. Fayth ran every test possible. She had bloodwork done, radiographs taken, fecal tests and everything kept coming back negative or inconclusive. Even her Distemper test was negative. The doctors were doing everything they could to keep her alive, but she wasn’t improving.

Dr. Jason did another radiograph of her abdomen and decided to go in for surgery. He thought it was possible there was something in her intestines, and without any other options, performed an emergency exploratory surgery. That surgery saved her life when he found a corn cob lodged in her intestines, rotting her from the inside.

After the successful surgery, Nala was so weak it would take many more weeks for her to recover. There were so many times we thought that we might lose her, but the team at Keys Animal ER worked around the clock to save her life.

Months later, when she was finally ready to walk out of the hospital on her own, Dr. Jason and Dr. Fayth not only saved her life, but also found her a forever home with her brother, who fell in love with Nala during her recovery. Nala’s story is one of the many reasons why we have our Oscar’s Fund, a fund dedicated solely to helping pay for unexpected emergency expenses of animals that enter our shelter in need of medical care. Learn more about our Oscar’s Fund by visiting us at https://fkspca.org/donate/ways-to-give/clinic-fund/.