Canine Blood Donor Ready for Adoption

BY KATHLEEN BAYDALA

Staff Writer

When Louise Hammonds brought her 7-year-old schnauzer, Georgia, to the Emergency Clinic in November, she didn’t know whether the pet would live.

But the blood transfusion from a black lab mix named Beavis saved the schnauzer’s life. Beavis, the clinics resident blood donor, has spent five years being pricked and prodded and living in mostly a cage. Now he’s retiring and is looking for a home.

“If I live a hundred years, I’ll never be able to express how appreciative I am of that dog, because he saved our dog,” Mrs. Hammonds said. “My husband said he never realized how much he loved Georgia until he almost lost her.”

There are no comprehensive records of Beavis’ donations, said Doctor Yvette Naylor, a veterinarian at the clinic on Amnicola Highway. But the 7-year-old dog helped save hundreds of dogs who were hit by cars, suffering from heartworms or hemorrhaging after consuming poisons, she said.

Beavis was used most frequently during flea and tick season. Many dogs who came in “sucked dry” in warm-weather months received blood from Beavis, Dr. Naylor said.

“It was either him or no pet,”she said. “ A lot of people don’t realize he saved their dogs”.

A cage in the clinics’ laundry measuring 3 ½ feet high and 4 ½ feet wide became Beavis’ home after clinic officials got him from the Humane Educational Society of Chattanooga. Beavis ran around in an enclosed area behind the clinic in the afternoons, and the clinic workers sometimes took him for walks.

“He just needs a good home with a fenced-in yard and lots of love,” said Becky Torbett, the clinic manager.

The donation process was often a rough experience for Beavis. A technician would put Beavis to sleep each time, and the dog would donate up to a little less than a pint of blood. The stress would lower his immune system, causing him to lose hair in patches. He would also seem depressed the next day, Dr. Naylor said.

“He never resisted,” she said. “Whenever we’d come get him with the leash, he never put up a fight.”

Clinic workers and others describe Beavis as an eager-to-please, high-energy dog who likes to give kisses.

“He’s a happy dog, but he has never known any better,” said Tallulah Trice, vice-chairman of the Homeless Animals Need Doctors Foundation, which is searching for a family to adopt Beavis.

While he waits, Beavis will stay at a small Kennel on Lookout Mountain that is operated by the foundation. The foundation provides veterinarian care to animals who are abandoned or neglected throughout Chattanooga and the tri-state area.

“Beavis has saved many of our dogs,” Ms. Trice said.

Ms. Trice is donating another stray dog to take beavis’ place at the clinic. Emergency clinic officials want the new donor dog to work for a shorter time.

“Ideally, we’ll only have them for six months to a year,” Dr. Naylor said. “If we find them homes, they can leave. There are plenty more strays out there to replace them, unfortunately.”

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