Couple uses wedding fund to save ‘playful’ goldendoodle puppy. Now, she’s on the mend
An Arkansas couple happily put their wedding plans on hold after crossing paths with a “silly, playful” puppy who desperately needed their help.
Neither the 330-mile drive across state lines, nor a nearly $15,000 veterinary bill was enough to deter Dylan McCay, 22, and Emily Roberts, 23, from saving the injured pooch, whom they named Maple, according to Mississippi State University officials.
The 10-month-old goldendoodle nearly lost her hind legs after she was struck by a car and abandoned on a road in Conway, Arkansas, on Halloween night, officials said.
Roberts and McCay agreed to spend their wedding fund to get Maple patched up. Now, she’s home and on the mend, thanks to veterinarians at Mississippi State’s Animal Health Center.
“She was walking on both legs two days after surgery,” Dr. Michael Jaffe, chief of small animal surgery at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, told the university.
“She’s a tough little girl,” he said. “She’s getting stronger now and building that muscle back. She’s got a long way to go, but she’s going to do it.”
McCay said he found Maple on Oct. 31 after seeing a Facebook post about “an extremely injured” dog on the side of a road, according to a GoFundMe page.
“As I kept driving, I then saw her,” he recalled. “Her back legs were both covered in blood and appeared broken. A few kind strangers who drove past were able to help me load her into my car and find the nearest emergency hospital.”
McCay named the dog Acklin at the time — a nod to the road she was found on — before renaming her.
Despite her pain, McCay said Maple didn’t growl or whine. Instead, she snuggled up to him and laid her head in his lap.
McCay said that’s when he knew Maple “deserved a chance at life,” he wrote.
He rushed the dog to Greenbrier Animal Hospital in Conway, where she was seen by Dr. Eric Schrand, according to university officials.
Schrand, an MSU doctor of veterinary medicine graduate, noticed the severity of her injuries: Both femurs on her hind legs were fractured and exposed, he said.
They tried to get Maple treatment from veterinary surgeons in Little Rock and Memphis, but the teams there weren’t equipped to handle what would be an extensive surgery to save the dog’s legs.
So, Schrand advised McCay and Roberts to make the more than 330-mile trek to his alma mater in Starkville, Mississippi.
“We were just going to do it,” Roberts told the university. “We felt like it was something that needed to be done right for her quality of life.”
Schrand originally suggested amputation, but Jaffe and MSU surgical resident Dr. Weston Beamon made it their mission to repair Maple’s legs.
During a tedious five-hour surgery, Jaffe and Beamon made their goal a reality “with five screws, two pins and one bone plate” in each of Maple’s legs, according to university officials. The procedure was a success, and Maple is expected to live a healthy life.
After more than three weeks, McCay and Roberts finally got to take their four-legged friend home.
“We’ve gotten to learn how silly of a girl she is — she loves tennis balls & belly rubs!” the couple wrote in a Nov. 24 Facebook post. “We are so excited to get to love & cuddle her after over 3 long weeks.”
Starkville is about a 130-mile drive northeast from Jackson.
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 9:55 AM.