I’d like to tell a little story about a miracle that happened last week at Utopia. I decided to call it a Festivus Miracle because I think it was kind of miraculous no matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year. Alexus and I did some research on Festivus and found out that Festivus Miracles are really just regular events that Kramer called “miracles”, but I am taking some artistic license just because I loved to watch Seinfeld.
On December 10th, my husband got a text from his friend Rafael saying that he found an old Cocker Spaniel wandering around in Cordova. The dog was dirty and matted and he had a tumor on his hindquarters. Rafael thought he was going to have to take the dog to the shelter because he already has 2 dogs. I told Raf that he could just bring the dog in to us when we were open on Monday and I’d take a look at him and scan him for a microchip. If he was really bad off, then we could put him to sleep or, if not, I thought maybe Mid South Cocker Rescue might be able to help me find him a home.
Kris (as we started calling the dog) showed up here on the 13th of December. I guessed that he was about 10 years old. His coat was in good shape since Rafael had him groomed over the weekend. He had a really bad ear infection, a tumor on his hindquarters and no microchip. He was such a sweet boy. Anytime we got him out of his kennel, he just wanted to lay his head on us and snuggle. I emailed Stephanie at Mid South Cocker Rescue to see if she knew anyone who might want to let him live out his days at their house. Stephanie said she’d look into it.
I didn’t hear from Stephanie for a few days, which didn’t exactly surprise me. It’s hard to find a home for an old dog with health issues. I got an email from Stephanie on the 19th that said that she was at the Memphis Animal Shelter over the weekend and overheard someone talking about an old Cocker Spaniel that they had lost. I thought it sounded a little promising, but a lot of these leads don’t pan out. Stephanie promised she would go find the application when the shelter opened on Tuesday.
Tuesday morning, we got a call here at the office from Teresa, who maintains the “Greater Memphis Area Found Pets” page on Facebook. Stephanie and Teresa had teamed up and found Brandon’s owners, who arrived at Utopia about 20 minutes later. Brandon’s family was so happy to see him and grateful for all of the help that he received. Brandon, who had been a pretty quiet dog the week he stayed with us, came to life as soon as he saw his family.
I’m not one to go around calling everything a miracle, but I do think this whole situation was miraculous! Many thanks to all who helped Brandon get home to his family.