Tater Tot

October 02, 2014

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A few days ago, I was sent by Priceless Pets to pull a dog from a high kill shelter in Orange County. Based on his pics, we decided to name him, Tater Tot.

You see, Tater Tot was dumped at the shelter. No, I don’t know the whole story but what I do know is that his old owners left him at a high kill shelter with a huge mass on his stomach, a tumor the size of a tennis ball. Tater Tot is 6 years old and maybe his old owners couldn’t afford vet care, I don’t know. But what I do know is that they thought the best option was to leave him at a high kill shelter. …basically leaving him there to die. He stayed there for SEVEN days with minimal amount of medical care. I’m sure people took one look at the mass on his stomach and never thought once to adopt him.

The night before he was set to be put down, I received a message from Priceless Pets asking what I thought about possibly fostering Tater Tot knowing that this may be cancer. The reason I absolutely LOVE Priceless Pets is because of their values and the respect they have for these unwanted animals. So of course my answer was 100% yes. There was no way this dog was going to go out in a shelter. He did not deserve this after giving the best of himself for 6 years to his previous family. We would do everything we could to give him a chance to beat whatever he was dealing with.

I asked fellow Pittie Crew member, Bri, to go with me the next morning. The day we got to the pound and saw him, he was facing the wall in his kennel. He heard our voice, stood up, turned around, put his face up against the bars and started crying for us. I put my hand up against the bars and he gave me his paw. It was as if he was begging us to get him out of there. We got him out of his kennel and went over to the play area where there just happened to be a cat. He walked up to the cat, sniffed him, wagged his tail and went about his business. Needless to say, he passed his temperament test with flying colors!

Before I saw the tumor on his belly in person, I was hoping it would be one of those things that looked worse in pictures. I was wrong. It just looked painful but there was Tater Tot, smiling and wagging his tail. He was so happy to be coming back with us that he literally jumped into the van and into a crate! He spent the first night with me and was the perfect house guest.

The next morning I dropped him off at the vet. He is such a happy go lucky dog that he wiggled his way to the back of the vet office. We found out the tumor on Tater Tot’s belly is cancerous. We are not clear on exactly what kind but it has not spread to his lungs or any other organs. He is having surgery this morning to remove the tumor and keep it from spreading. Priceless Pets is going to give Tater Tot every opportunity to save him and this is one of the MANY reasons I love being part of Priceless Pets. One thing is for sure, he’s not going to die on the cold concrete floor of a high kill “shelter”.

I will see you after surgery, Tater Tot. I can’t wait to pick you up from the hospital and bring you here to heal up.

Tater Tot’s surgery is going to cost $1500. As you know, Priceless Pets is run strictly off donations so any help will be appreciated. If you would like to donate you can go to www.pricelesspetrescue.org and donate to his care!