Anger As Owner Leaves Severely Sick Dog To Be Euthanized ‘All Alone’

The plight of a severely sick German shepherd whose owner left her to be euthanized in a veterinary ER all alone has sparked anger.

Mishka’s situation was brought to the attention of many on social media by a video posted to TikTok by Sunshine Animal Rescue showing how she was effectively left “all alone” to die by her previous owners.

Lauren Dawson from Sunshine Animal Rescue told Newsweek: “Mishka was taken into the ER by her previous owners. When they heard her care would be $2,500 they opted to euthanize her. The owners left.”

The annual costs of owning and caring for a dog can range anywhere from $1,000 to $5,225 a year, according to research by pet care services company Rover.com.

Add in the potential costs of emergency care like the kind Mishka required and it’s perhaps understandable that many simply would not or could not foot that kind of bill.

But what made Mishka’s story enraging for many watching on TikTok was the fact her owner’s simply upped and left her to be euthanized alone. “Honestly, not a lot of people in the world have $2,500 to spend on a pet, let alone ourselves. But if I knew I couldn’t save them, I would at least stay by their side through it all,” one viewer wrote.

“I took a stray to the vet, he was beyond saving… I stayed with him. He booped my nose with his before he passed. I could never leave an animal ever,” a second added. A third wrote: “When they asked me if we wanted to stay in the room when our boy was put down it broke my heart for the vet to tell me that some owners just leave before they pass.”

Mishka came within an hour of being put to sleep. Dawson said it’s an “absolute miracle” that she wasn’t. “The ER contacted a few rescuers and Jim Bradley, an independent Belgian Malinois rescuer, heard about Mishka,” she said.

“He posted about her to his Facebook account and people started sharing it. At this point, the post was shared and I ended up seeing it. I called the veterinarians. Completely unsure of how we were going to cover her costs, I said please don’t put her to sleep, we will take her. “

Dawson said much about Mishka’s life before she came to the ER is “unknown.” “She is very underweight and was severely sick. For days, we were unsure if she would survive,” she said. “A doctor and other rescuers mentioned she may have been living outside.”

In Dawson’s opinion, it was “clear that negligence was involved for Mishka to have gotten this sick.” When she came into the ER, she had a fever and a temperature of 107.9.

“The first few days her odds were very low she could hardly get up. It was 50/50 if she would even survive this,” she said. “She wouldn’t eat, she couldn’t even breathe without her oxygen machine… she was in really bad shape.”

Dawson suspects Mishka’s illness began with an upper respiratory infection that progressed to become something much more severe. At the height of her illness, she estimates Mishka was going through around $400 worth of fluids every day.

But, despite remaining medically dependent at the time of writing, Mishka has started to respond well to her treatment and is expected to survive. In time, and after more rest and recuperation, Dawson is hopeful that Mishka can find a new home and an owner who will never leave her side again in times of trouble.

“Mishka is a wonderful girl,” she said. “She’s great with every human and pet she meets. She will do wonderful in a home with a yard or on a farm!”