Paying It Forward

It’s been two months since Pebbles went to Rainbow Bridge.  Last week she would have turned 11.  Her sister Allie shares her birthday. We think Pebbles had DM – Degenerative Myelopathy. It is a terrible disease with no cure that affects their ability to walk. Some relate it to MS.  When Pebbles started showing symptoms of this horrible disease-dragging her feet and muscle loss in her back end I started researching what could be wrong with her and found a forum for DM trying to get as much information as I could.

The first weekend in February we rented a minivan and loaded the kids – 3 dogs and a toddler and drove 3.5 hours to Albany to meet a wonderful person named Tina from the DM forum who was willing to give her wheelchair to Pebbles. Tina had recently lost her dog Patches and all she asked was to pass the wheels along to another fur baby when we no longer needed it.  This picture we took of Pebbles was at Petco in NY when we met Tina. Pebbles seemed to be ok with the wheels. Pebby was a nervous nelly type of dog and just about everything freaked her out. She was a rescue and I picked her up with her brother and sister when they were 10 months old. They were all so skinny- you can count every single bone, they had never walked on grass before and had zero socialization skills. But Pebbles was the sweetest, lovable boxer you could meet. She was a people dog and just loved to curl up with you and snuggle.

Sadly Pebby didn’t get a chance to use her wheels.  Within a week she made a turn for the worst. I knew there was something wrong right away that Monday morning when her breathing sounded weird – a mother knows, that feeling in your gut when you know something is wrong.  Sadly, that Saturday on February 18 at about 3.30 in the morning Pebby made her way to Rainbow Bridge to be with her brother and sister.  I’m thankful that Pebbles was home with her family when she made the journey.

It took some time for me to let go of the wheels. This was one of the last things I had of Pebby and I wasn’t ready yet. Yes I know it’s a wheelchair and she really didn’t use it but still. One day when I logged into the forum I saw an email from a gentleman who was looking for wheels for his boxer named Molly. Molly was 9 years old and beautiful and had pretty much lost the use of one of her legs. It was time for a chair.  I contacted this person and we emailed and finally spoke on the phone and agreed to pass the wheels to him with the same conditions I was given. Truth be told I didn’t get a fuzzy feeling when I spoke to him like I did when Tina and I chatted. But whatever, the wheels were for his fur baby. He promised to send pictures and keep us updated.  It’s been about a month now and I have yet to see any pictures or get any updates on how Molly is doing with her wheels. I keep asking but I get nothing. The weekend he received the wheels he said that he put Molly in it and she walked around a bit to get used to it yet no pictures –nothing. He claims that he has medical issues as well but that has nothing to do with what he promised to do.

I’m upset about this because I feel like I’ve been scammed and I really, really hope that is not the case and there is nothing I can do about it. This guy could have taken a picture of any dog online and sent it to me. He could have sold the wheels and made some money from it. The wheelchairs are not cheap. I spoke to Tina about it and she thought the same but said that as long as a fur baby can get some use out of it then she’s ok. I know I should be too but still, it seems so shady.  I feel it’s people like this guy that stops us from “paying it forward”.

If he is being shady I know karma will get him. What are your thoughts?

Irene