A Cry for Gordon: The Story of a Husky Saved

 

 Smiling Gordon, now named "Kaiser." a Husky saved by a village! 

Read his remarkable story below.

 

 

The holiday season is a time of miracles. Before Thanksgiving, in early November, writer Jeromie Williams with the Exainercom headlined a story that highlighted “Pet Pardons of the Day,” a story about an abused Siberian Husky whose silent plea for help was voiced by many and heard around the world. In an excerpt from the article, “The Pet Pardons organization released an urgent dog bulletin Wednesday asking the public for their help in finding a home for a five-year-old male Siberian Husky named Gordon who survived extreme abuse by his previous owner and dies tomorrow unless saved from Chicago Animal Care and Control.” The story tells of how Gordon suffered from “a fractured jaw, a broken canine tooth and a painful inflammation of the gumline that were parting gifts from the owners that abused him and 

 dumped him in a shelter to die.”

 

Posted photo of Gordon as he sat waiting to be saved. 

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Gordon sat on death row, unloved and broken, just waiting for someone to come help him. Sad. Lonely. Hurting. And wondering what he did wrong. The clock for Gordon was ticking, and it was ticking fast. He was scheduled to be put to sleep the next day.

“Gordon sits quietly in his cell, with depression setting in, full of pain and fright, waiting for someone to help him out of his situation and lift him up into a loving and caring home.  He deserves so much better than this.”

A firestorm of pleas to help this Husky spread like wildfire across the Internet, yet his future looked grim. Gordon, with his sad eyes staring up from his photo stole the hearts of people across the globe and created a frenzy. “Help save Gordon” messages popped up across social networking sites.

That was November 9th.

All looked extremely bleak. Then…enter Adopt-A-Husky (AOH). These folks – knights in shining armor – stepped up and pulled Gordon from imminent execution. Jeromie Williams started a Chip-In fund, and ultimately sent over $900 to AOH in Gordon’s name. The world of animal lovers let out a sigh of relief as he was spared the needle and brought safely into the folds of this foster care rescue and its wonderful volunteers.

 

But Gordon was a long way from being OK. He was saved, but now he needed to be healed. With so many folks concerned for this Husky’s well-being and wondering how he was faring, I followed up with Adopt-A-Husky to see how Gordon was doing and they gave me a wonderful update. First, they expressed their deep appreciation and were extremely touched by all the people who stepped up and were concerned about Gordon and helped to spread the word and chip in toward medical expenses. And the news is good! 

 

According to an Email letter sent to me from the Board of Directors of Adopt-A-Husky, “Gordon is safe with Adopt-A-Husky and went right from transport to the vet.  At this point we are unsure of what surgery will need to be done. The most important thing is to get his fever down first-he came in at 104 degrees. He is feeling better today (after some antibiotics were given). Once we feel it is safe to sedate him, we will get Xrays of the jaw and teeth and see for sure what is going on. The good news is that upon exam, his jaw seems good.  He had a shaved patch on his hip that could have been from a fentanyl patch so we are not sure how old these injuries are. We will get to the bottom of it and rest assured, any and all vet care that is needed for his complete recovery will be given."

“Gordon is safe with Adopt-A-Husky and went right from transport to the vet." ~Board of Directors, Adopt-A-Husky

Gordon, renamed Kaiser, is on the mend!

 

A week later, I received another update on Gordon, now named Kaiser, from Board Member MaryBeth, who informed me that Kaiser was on a series of antibiotics for the fever and an infection. When he felt better, they did sedate him and the Xrays showed, “a very abscessed canine tooth that looks to be the problem. It was too rotted at the root to do a root canal and save the tooth-our vet indicated that the infection/abscess was there for some time for the root to get that deteriorated.  So we did have surgery to remove it. But the good news is that the jaw is good as are the orbital cavities and the entire frame. He had a sunken eye look to him that made us a bit fearful that he had something going on there as well, but all came back good. We expect him to feel much, much better soon now that the tooth that was hurting him is removed. Our blood panels all came back good on him as well so our hope is that once he recovers from this surgery we can vaccinate him and have him available for adoption in a couple of weeks!”

Kaiser out for a stroll.

 

As of a week ago, I have learned from MaryBeth that Kaiser “is officially released from all medical and can move to his foster home!” While she reports that he has a bit of a slope to his gait, the cause was some arthritis, but nothing serious, and he was put on joint supplements. “He is SUCH a nice boy,” notes MaryBeth. “We walked into the vet and went to weigh him and a little 5-year-old just launched herself on him, saying as she was hugging him ‘Can I pet your dog?’  And he in turn looked up at her and gave her a kiss. The entire vet staff (who knows him pretty well now) is just in love with him. I expect him to find a forever home soon.”

Gordon, now named "Kaiser" “is officially released from all medical and can move to his foster home! He is SUCH a nice boy." ~MaryBeth, Board Member, Adopt-A-Husky

What a wonderful ending to what originally was a horror story in-the-making.  Just like the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child,"  it took an international community to save a Husky. Without the care and concern of so many folks - including those at Pet Pardons and Adopt-A-Husky, examiner.com writer Jeromie Williams, and to all the animal lovers who blogged, Tweeted, and shared Gordon’s story in waves across the Internet, Gordon would surely have died. Thanks to such a compassionate networked community, he was saved. Now that’s a true holiday season miracle.

Kaiser post-surgery.

 

Since AOH is a foster rescue, the number of dogs they take into their foster homes are limited. Funds are used to help defray medical and care costs for homeless Huskies in need at the foster rescue, just like Kaiser. MaryBeth also mentions the “wonderful” organization, Save Our Siberians-Siberspace Rescue Funds “that fundraises for injured Siberians throughout the country. Adopt-A-Husky has benefitted from their donations in the past and they are truly a wonderful group to contribute to. If anyone wants to donate to them, on behalf of Gordon, we would love to have them do so. So many Siberians have been saved on their behalf that it would be a fitting tribute to him to have donations go to them as well.” There is also a PayPal Chip-In on the Adopt-A-Husky website if anyone would like to donate toward this worthy organization so they may continue to help other Huskies in dire need, like Gordon.

This is the season for caring and sharing, so while we are all writing out our Christmas and holiday gift lists this year, why not add a Husky rescue organization to it so there can be many more Husky Happy Ending stories - just like Gordon's.

Smiling Kaiser says, "Thank wooo, Everyone!"

 

May Santa be extra good to all those wonderful folks who cared enough to save one helpless Siberian Husky. 

Miracles can happen. Kaiser is a happy boy and is now doing well enough to move into his foster parent's home!

Happy Holidays, Kaiser!

 

*all photos used with permission. 

 

For Adopt-A-Husky Rescue Facebook page, 

please go HERE.

 

For more info on Save Our Siberians-Siberspace Rescue Fund, go HERE.