Seeing the tears on the man’s face and the grief in the dog’s eyes, the vet did exactly what she was supposed to…
They say that happiness is not measured by money, but sometimes it is money that decides how our destiny will turn out. An elderly man struggled to make ends meet and when the doctors announced the cost of treating his dog, he realized that he could not afford it.
In the veterinarian’s office, in addition to the doctor, there was an elderly man and a mongrel. All three remained silent, the visitor only petting his dog absently and sobbing softly. The silence of the office was broken only by the bitter sighs of a man who could not accept the need to part with his friend and was silently crying.
Veterinarian Andrey Alexandrovich, although he had little experience, had already seen such a reaction from people who had to euthanize their pets more than once. The doctor understood that a pet becomes a friend for a person, so he considered tears from his visitors to be an absolutely natural reaction. However, this case seemed special to him.
The doctor remembered how three days ago a man with a dog came to him for the first time. The man was elderly and laconic, his dog Naida, a nine-year-old mongrel, who had not risen to his feet for several days. The behavior of the animal frightened the man, so he brought the dog for an urgent appointment. During a conversation with a veterinarian, the man said that Naida was the only living soul he had left.
The examination revealed a serious infection in the dog, it needed to be treated urgently, but the medicines and procedures were expensive. If you don’t help your dog. The infection will continue to spread and lead to severe and painful death of the animal. The doctor gave the man an alternative: treatment or euthanasia, which will allow the dog to avoid pain and suffering. Andrei Alexandrovich made his proposal very dryly, without thinking how his words would be perceived by the visitor.
After the doctor’s verdict, the man put money on the table, a couple of crumpled banknotes, took the dog with trembling hands and left.
The man and his friend appeared on the threshold of the clinic three days later: “Sorry, I was only able to raise money for euthanasia so that she would not suffer,” the man said without looking up from the floor.
Already in the office, the man asked to give him a few minutes so that he could say goodbye to his girlfriend. Looking at the pain with which this couple says goodbye to each other, Andrei Alexandrovich very keenly felt the injustice reigning in the world. Sometimes people with money don’t value life at all, neither other people nor animals. This old man and his mongrel showed such quivering feelings that money cannot buy, but it was precisely because of the lack of money that they were forced to say goodbye.
The doctor could not restrain his feelings, he approached the man and, putting his hand on his shoulder, promised: “I will cure Naida, no money is needed, I will help at my own expense. Naida is not old yet, she has a couple more years left to spend with you.”
The older man only shook harder from silent sobs.
In just 7 days, Naida was already able to walk and even run on her own. Droppers and proper care allowed her to quickly cope with the disease. The veterinarian felt real satisfaction from his work. He may not have performed the most significant act of kindness, but for an elderly man and his dog, he was able to maintain faith in people and hope for a better future.
