A devastating accident yesterday left a Redding dog clinging to life, but the quick action of a veterinarian and a fellow K9 has turned that accident into a remarkable story of recovery.
Lilly was just a normal shelter dog until Tuesday morning, but an accident across town changed that, and Lilly quickly became a hero.
It was a happy reunion Wednesday afternoon, as Lilly greeted Merced for the first time since his surgery.
“A next door neighbor had came over and told me that they saw a dog that looked like Merced in the road and I knew it was him, and when I called him when I got up he did not come,” said Christina Burton, Merced’s Owner.
Merced was struck by a car early Tuesday morning, he had a lacerated spleen and damage to his intestines. The injuries would have been fatal if not for a stroke of luck.
“As I came upon the scene there was a dog down in the middle of the road that had been hit,” said Cyanna Brauning, lead veterinarian at Haven Human.
Cyanna happened upon the scene, when she saw Merced’s injuries, she rushed him back to her clinic for surgery.
“When he first got here, he was hemorrhaging pretty badly into his abdomen, so we knew right away that he needed a blood donor,” said Cyanna.
Enter Lilly, who donated a life saving 350 milliliters of blood to Merced.
“She's a blessing, is what she is, she is my hero,” Merced’s owner, Christian, said of Lilly.
But now Lilly needs a life saver of her own. Despite her friendly demeanor and life saving blood, Lilly still lives at Haven Humane. She has been there about 2 months without being adopted.
“Lilly is not getting a look, normally if you like a dog, you take it into the dog room and you visit with it. No one has taken Lilly,” said Dr. Ray John of Haven Humane.
But the publicity created by her heroic actions could change that.
“We are hoping after Lilly’s heroics yesterday, that someone will take her in and give her a home,” said Dr. Ray.
Officials at Haven say Lilly has been looked over because she is a pit bull mix, but she is just as friendly as can be to humans and other dogs. There is just a 25 dollar adoption fee if you are interested in giving Lilly a home.
