On the very first day of the new year, GBHS Clinic Manager Annie McCormick rang in her new year by picking up a dog from the median of the interstate, on her way into work. Annie noticed a dog that had been hit by a car and left for dead, even though there was evidence that someone left the dog a plate of celebratory Waffle House leftovers. She tucked him in to the backseat of her car and took him to work with her. After getting him to the clinic, she realized that he couldn’t use his back legs.
Annie contacted Dr. Latham, the Chief Medical Officer for GBHS, and met him at the shelter hospital in Hoover, with the injured dog that she named Valhalla. Dr. Latham immediately got radiographs of Valhalla and it turned out that there was some serious and painful damage to his pelvis and left femur. Val was immediately put on medications and a lot of love from the ASV staff. Thanks to donations, Dr. Latham put a screw in Valhalla’s hips and a pin in his leg, which is not an easy surgery. Valhalla was put on cage rest for several weeks. He has undergone several more surgeries since then, and he’s had his pin removed, but the screw will be left in.
Valhalla quickly became a staff favorite at ASV, everyone has grown attached and it’s been hard to let him go. Through everything that Val has been through, he’s kept the most amazing attitude. Six and a half months, that’s 167 days, that he has been with us – and he’s never shown us anything but love. Valhalla has a big heart and he loves to play! For somebody who has been through all of the physically traumatizing things that he has been through, he is incredibly active.
Valhalla will always have a family at Alabama Shelter Vets and I hope that whoever adopts him will bring him by to visit, because we will miss him dearly. By adopting this incredible boy, you are bringing the most unconditional love into your home and you will be so much happier for it. Valhalla deserves a life where he means everything to his human, because his human will mean everything for him.
Kasey Rawlings