Willow hasn’t been well for several weeks. We’re concerned that we might lose her.

Today, although we’re in Saginaw, we called our Florida vet because he was the last to see Willow. Her symptoms didn’t sound good. He suggested that we take to to her Saginaw vet. We got an appointment and took her in to see her doctor.

I should mention that we have two really caring veterinarians for Willow: Dr. Waldy in Ruskin, Florida, and Dr. Hegenauer in Saginaw. Both go the extra mile to care for our beloved 14-year old small chihuahua.

Willow’s no longer really lovable. She’s always been feisty but now she’s not even “friendly” with John or me. She’s old, her left eye is blind, and she has a severe heart condition and she appears to be rather arthritic.

We continue to give her the best care possible. She’s been a good dog and just because she’s old and her “end” is approaching, doesn’t mean that she doesn’t deserve the best we can provide for her. John and I have talked about her condition, and we agree that when she gets to the point where we can’t keep her comfortable, or she has a condition which makes her life unbearable, we’ll do the humane thing. But that time isn’t now.

We took her in to the vet because for about three or four days she hasn’t eaten at all. When we got to the veterinarian’s office, she was weighed. In January she had weighed 5.3 pounds. She’s now 4.2 pounds. She’s lost over ONE POUND…. 25% of her weight!

She isn’t running a temperature, but there are indications that she has a bladder infection so she’s on antibiotics. We are giving her dietary supplements.

But a very distressing thing happened as we were going into the vet’s office. A shabby guy with a large, obviously injured dog, asked me to move aside so he could get past me. The dog had a large wound on his side.

The man was really distraught. He said, “A neighbor stabbed him in my yard, right in front of me.”

We overheard the man explain that he had no money. It was obvious from the way he was dressed and his demeanor that he was really poor. This was a man who had nothing. I wanted to do something, but what can you do when you don’t really know the story? Do you stick your neck into a situation which might be violent?

Instead I asked our vet, as he was working on Willow, if the dog who had been stabbed was being cared for and he said, “Yes, we couldn’t send a dog away in that condition.” What a relief. I would have offered to pay for the dog’s care had it been necessary, but I guess, not knowing the parties involved, we had to stay out of it. When we left, the dog was in surgery.

I commend Cole Veterinary Clinic, on Schust Road in Saginaw, for their compassionate care.

I wish I’d felt free to step up and volunteer to help with expenses. He obviously wasn’t the kind of person we’d normally approach. It was his attitude and his demeanor that said “stay away.” It was a situation where we couldn’t get involved because he looked really threatening and who knows what the whole story was, but it sure wasn’t the fault of the innocent dog and it haunts me. Should I have asked if he needed help?

I’m still shaken.