In June, 2011, Kathy Mullins’ dog Skipper had a problem. “We’d take him out in the yard and we’d notice immediately that he couldn’t urinate. He was trying very hard and he was straining and he just couldn’t. And that went on a day or so. Eventually little drops of blood started coming out.
“And you can imagine, I started panicking.” Mullins took her dog, a five-year-old Pomeranian-Toy Poodle mix, to Irvine Boulevard Animal Hospital in Irvine where Dr. David Driscoll examined him. “I’m thinking he has some kind of blockage,” the veterinarian told Mullins, “probably some stones. But I won’t know for sure until we do x-rays. I might be able to do this without surgery. But I can’t guarantee that. It could be that he has to have surgery.’”
Mullins said: “So I’m thinking ‘Oh, Lord!’ First of all, you don’t want your pet to suffer and you don’t want to lose your pet but you’re also certainly thinking about the financial end of it. At the time, I didn’t have a job. I was working at some temporary jobs. That was the only thing I was able to get at the time. And I was between temporary jobs. It was a really difficult time.
“So Dr. Driscoll did the x-ray and I was able to scrounge up a few dollars for that so that he could determine exactly what was going on.” The x-ray showed that Skipper had bladder stones – “quite a few of them.” Mullins recalled, and the doctor said that surgery would be needed to save Skipper’s life.
“Dr. Driscoll was able do a procedure to alleviate the problem that seemed to buy us a little time. It was getting to the point where the bladder could have ruptured. And he told me about Angel Fund. It took us a day or two to arrange for them to help us.
“The people at Angel Fund were very nice. And we were able to get Skipper back in there and schedule the surgery. I couldn’t sleep and I was crying the whole time and my three daughters were very upset.
“But everyone was very kind. We still talk about it to this day. How Angel Fund and the doctor and the other people at the hospital – people cared. And that was so touching for our family, that they cared about our pet and they cared about us. And so we still get to enjoy our Skipper. They saved our dog.”
Angel Fund contributed $500 to help pay for Skipper’s surgery and Irvine Boulevard Hospital slashed its bill by $700.
Kathy and David Mullins, who lived in Irvine when Skipper was sick, have since moved with their three daughters to Ashland, Ky. “We feel very blessed. It was such a hard time then and there were some caring people who helped us and saved our dog and we are very grateful.”
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