As hard as it is to admit, we aren't perfect. We are human, we make mistakes. The difference between being an ok average rescue and being a great rescue which is what I strive for everyday is admitting from those mistakes, taking away from the mistake and learning and growing from it and doing the best I can to make the mistake right.
Now I am sure you are all wondering what I am talking about... here is the story:
On Feb 6th, Princess was scheduled to meet her new potential family. The foster home tried taking a new way to the farm then she usually takes and got lost. Her GPS had her doing U-turns because of a road closure. She was an hour late to the meet and greet appointment.
The people were nice about it but could tell as the time went on were annoyed. And hey I can't blame them I would have been too.
As usually we told the adopting family to make sure they take Princess to the vet within the first 10 days. Make sure the vet checks her out and let us know if there is any issues.
And now the fun begins........... They did take Princess to the vet, finding a lump on her chest. Something we didn't notice. Poor Princess had blood work done and was scheduled for surgery this past Friday to have the mass removed. The vet said that the mass was much larger then he expected and had branch offs that he had to remove causing a large incision area. Poor Princess had to have drains put in. She went back to the vet today and had the drains removed. Vet said she looks to be healing up nicely but did a fecal test finding whipworms. DEAR LORD! How much more could go wrong with this poor dog. So she is now being treated for this.
Lucky for the adopter they signed up for the Free 30 day Pet Insurance that we offer to all of our adopters. She has submitted the vet bills to the insurance company and is waiting to hear back from them. I believe the total is around $1,200.
I am completely embarrassed by everything that happened to poor Princess and this adopter. It started off rough and seems to be getting worse. If I were these people I would be cussing up a storm.
All though all protocols were followed with Princess and it is was all honest mistakes, nothing malicious at all. I still feel like an idiot. I have to keep reminding myself that we aren't perfect and stuff happens, especially when you are dealing with so many dogs with an unknown history.
So how are we going to make this right. Well from the first email I received from the adopter, I told her that I am glad she signed up for the Pet Insurance but if the Pet Insurance doesn't cover something to let me know so I can make sure she gets reimbursed. If we would have found the lump, we would have had the surgery so there is no reason for her to have to pay for the surgery since clearly it is something we should have noticed.
And now with today's message about her having whipworms. Although in rescue world that is not a big deal to us, we expect dogs to have worms when they come in and whip is a common one. That is why all puppies/dogs that come into the rescue are automatically de-wormed with 3 days of panacure. We did that with Princess but obviously she needed another dose. Whipworms are a hard one to control / treat. Usually does take two doses.
So with all the issues/trouble/hardship her poor adoptive family has had with her in just the 10 days they have had her, I will be sending back their adoption fee. There is absolutely no reason or excuse for something like this to happen. But again I have to remind myself we are a human and doing the best we can with the information and resources we have. And although the adoption fee being returned can't take away from the last 10 days of vet visits, surgery, medication, etc. I hope the adopter knows this is NOT normal and I hope my writing about this to all of you helps for people to understand a little more that being in rescue, running a rescue isn't easy nor predictable and my rescue isn't perfect but we do the best we can and will make right where we have failed.
