Help Second Chance Heel a Heart

After the death of a pet, you may have heard (or said) the expression, “If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.”

What if your love did save an animal today?

In the spring of 2018, a good Samaritan contacted Second Chance about 8 abandoned dogs in Dunn, NC. Left behind after an eviction, these dogs were too difficult for the good Samaritan to capture. After a few trips, we finally had all 8–or all 17, if you count the 9 puppies that one of the dogs was carrying.

As we made room for Mae, Marik, Millicent, Moe, Mona (and 9 pups), Monty, Potter Man, and Theo, we began our usual medical evaluations. One by one, every singly dog that we tested for heartworms came up positive. In the end, only Theo tested negative, which may have been a false negative due to youth.

According to the American Heartworm Society, NC ranks 7th-highest in the nation in the number of heartworm-positive pets. Heartworms are transmitted to dogs through mosquito bites; dogs who are not receiving monthly preventatives (like Heartgard) may become hosts for worms that damage their hearts and lungs. The damage caused by heartworms is often fatal.

There is a cure for heartworm disease–and it’s highly effective. The problem? It’s also incredibly expensive, costing pet parents as much as $1,000. With a price tag that high, heartworm-positive dogs are often surrendered, abandoned, and overlooked in shelters by potential adopters and rescues alike. When overcrowded shelters are forced to euthanize, heartworm-positive dogs make their way toward the top of the list. These dogs lose their lives solely because they run out of time before someone will step up to pay for them.

Second Chance is stepping up for heartworm-positive dogs. Through our Heeling Hearts program, we are making a commitment to dogs whose hearts are big, but broken: we will rescue–and treat–75 heartworm-positive dogs over the course of this next year. Every dog we’ve rescued has left paw prints on our hearts, and now it’s our turn to touch their hearts. We can find these dogs, we can rescue them, and we can foster them–but we need your help to pay for the cost of their treatment. They deserve this simple second chance.

The truth is, a heartworm-positive dog can live to see another day because of your love.

Giving a dog a healthy heart depends on your generous heart. Can you lend a paw?

Heartworms infect dogs year-round. Help us reach our goal of saving 75 dogs in 12 months by becoming a monthly donor today.