Helping dog comes with price

Last Hope faces $2,500 bill for dog's heart operation

BY MEGGEN LINDSAY

Pioneer Press

Tracie Johnson drove about 200 miles to Iowa State University in Ames for her foster charge to have open-heart surgery.

It was a life-or-death situation, the Apple Valley mom figured, so she scheduled the surgery first and planned to figure out how to pay the bill afterward. Now, two weeks later, the patient is on the mend, and Johnson is relieved.

The convalescent in question is Bear, an abandoned poodle-bichon frise mix with a heart murmur who was surrendered to a Dakota County animal-rescue group.

Johnson, a volunteer with the nonprofit Last Hope Inc., said she expects the surgery gave the 5-year-old dog another 10 good years.

"It was worth it for him to do this. He's just a wonderful little lap dog," she said. "His tail is always wagging, and he's always snuggling. I feel like Bear is a gift for anyone who adopts him."

Last Hope is still waiting for the bill from the university's small-animal hospital but expects it could hit $2,500. Johnson took Bear to Iowa because the surgery was cheaper there than at nearby facilities.

She is hoping to raise enough in donations to cover the fees and to find a new owner for Bear.

Bear has been bounced around to three homes, and the shelter group originally planned to adopt him out and tell the new owners he didn't have much longer to live. But shelter members couldn't go through with it.

"I know if we hadn't done this, Bear would have died," the group's founder and president Beverley Orr said.

Orr incorporated the now 900-member nonprofit in 1985. The cat-and-dog rescue group does not operate out of a building but out of more than 40 foster volunteers' homes.

At any point, the group has a few sick animals and as many as 100 abandoned pets housed in homes south of the Mississippi River.

Johnson started fostering dogs and puppies three years ago and estimates she has had as many as 70 animals come through her home.

"Our original mission was to help spay and neuter local animals because there was nothing in this area," said Orr, of Farmington.

"Doing these types of surgeries can be a double-edged sword, though. We can't just pay for surgeries or spay and neuter every animal we get. We're not the Bank of America."

Orr, who grew up on a farm that constantly took in stray animals, has been involved in animal rescue for 40 years, she said.

Nearly every day, she brings in new animals, responding to calls and looking for homes. She said the majority of animals the group receives are from owners who are divorcing or moving.

"I often refer to Last Hope as a chain of love," Orr said. "Each person who donates to us is a link. Each person who volunteers is a link. The vets who give us a discount are part of it, too. So are people who adopt."

Orr knows the money for Bear's surgery could have paid for many animals to be spayed and neutered but said the group routinely has to make difficult decisions about which creatures they help the most.

"We can't do it all the time, but every once in a while, there's an animal who just touches you," she said.

Meggen Lindsay can be reached at mlindsay@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5260.

how to help

Donations for Bear's surgery can be mailed to Last Hope Inc., P.O. Box 114, Farmington, MN 55024. For more information, call 651-463-8747 or visit www.last-hope.org.