Case of the Month

Rita Rudner once famously quipped, “We’ve begun to long for the pitter patter of little feet- so we bought a dog. Well, it’s cheaper, and you get more feet.” Brittany and her husband, Coby, felt exactly the same way when they moved out together after high school. “We were in a duplex for only a week or two when we realized we were missing something,” she remembered. “We didn’t want kids, so we decided to get a dog.”

            The decision to get a dog came easily, but the two of them couldn’t decide what kind of dog to get. Coby would have liked to have gone with a Chihuahua, but Brittany wanted to have something that she felt would protect her, so after much deliberation, they settled on getting an English Bulldog. They began looking on the internet for possible matches and found their dream dog in Tennessee. “When I saw her, I just knew she was the one,” said Brittany. “Even the name she was given by the breeders, Gabby, was just perfect!”

            When Gabby finally arrived, Brittany and Coby weren’t the only ones who were beside themselves with excitement. Gabby just couldn’t contain herself and peed everywhere. In the airport, in the car, in the apartment, you name it, and Gabby peed on it because she was so thrilled.

            Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the newly formed family, Gabby came with a big health concern. Shortly, after moving in with Brittany and Coby, Gabby’s trachea started closing up and she required intensive medical care. The costs were extremely expensive for Brittany and Coby reaching up into the thousands of dollars, but Gabby had become extremely important to them and they wanted to do everything they could to save her, so they took out a loan in order to pay for her care.

            Gabby recovered fully and became ever more dear to Brittany and Coby. “She’s the perfect dog for us,” said Brittany. “She cracks us up because she’s very lazy. We take out the leash so we can take her for a walk, and she’ll run under the bed and hide. We took her to the pumpkin patch recently and all the kids were just in love with her In a word, she’s just awesome.”

            Brittany’s favorite story about Gabby took place when Gabby wedged herself under a car. “I took her for a walk to deliver a couple of wedding invitations to some friends of ours,” explained Brittany. “It seriously couldn’t have been even close to a mile, we walked ten minutes at the most, but when we got to my friend’s house, Gabby was so mad that she wriggled out of her collar, ran under a car to hide, and then got wedged under there somehow. I tried to crawl under to get her out, but I couldn’t get to her, so we had to have my uncle lift up the car with a car jack to get her out. We were all so relieved.”

            One day Brittany and Coby noticed that Gabby was having a discharge. After it persisted for three days, Brittany told her boss about Gabby’s problem and mentioned how she really didn’t have the money to be able to afford any procedures that might be too expensive. Luckily, Gabby’s boss had been to Albert Brajdich, DVM, at the Moreno Valley Animal Hospital and had gotten help for her own dog from the Angel Fund a few years before, so she recommended that Brittany give Dr. Brajdich a call.

            Gabby was diagnosed with a severe uterine infection and had to have her uterus taken out right away if she was to be saved. With the help of the Angel Fund, Brittany and Coby were able to help pay for the costs of the surgery, and Gabby’s life was spared.

            “I’d like to thank the Angel Fund and the Moreno Valley Animal Hospital so much for the help they gave us,” said Brittany. “That was just life-saving for me and my family. My husband and I will always appreciate this very much, and Gabby thanks you, too!”