I recently learned that Miley, the sweet boy who was injured on the side of the road. was at Landrum Vet for a checkup. The wonderful couple who found Miley eventually adopted him themselves. Miley was sent to Upstate where Dr. Keith Allen tended to him. It was quite expensive, but well worth it.  

Dr. Allen and I have collaborated on many cases and I call him “the man with the magic hands.” I’ve recently learned that Keith is retiring and I had trouble believing it. You see, I imagine Keith Allen as a man in his late 40s, forgetting we’ve now known each other for nearly 18 years. It’s a phenomenon many people my age have—time gets away from us.

I’ll tell my wife, Elaine, “Didn’t we do that last year?” She replies, “Honey, that was five years ago.” We forget that we are not growing old all by ourselves. I’ll miss Keith, as I’m sure someday some people will miss me, but I guess life goes on.

Lennie’s fund spent around $1,000 this past week, the bulk of it going for Prancer at Bonnie Brae. Prancer is a sweet 4-year-old Boxer who was high heartworm positive. I promised my friend Dr. Fitch that I would handle the treatments because Prancer’s owner could not afford it. I received the final bill this week and I learned that Prancer’s treatments are complete and thank God he is out of danger. Thank you Iain, a job well done.

The second case I’d like to share is the Chihuahua mixes I spoke of last week, Gypsy and Sashi. Both were fighting rashes that had them itching, bleeding and moaning. Gypsy is only a few months old and Sashi is a one year old. After a complete checkup, it was learned there weren’t any fleas or mange mites, but an allergy of some sort. Medicines were administered to help the problem with a follow-up visit scheduled the next week.  

I’ve recently spoken with Sashi and Gypsy’s owner and learned they’re doing much better and the itching has stopped. They’ll be back at the vet’s on Friday morning, but unfortunately, I’ll be at dialysis and I’ll miss seeing the sweet pups. Oh well, I did receive some photos, I guess we’ll take what we can get. But the most important thing is that we’re healing my kids and that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Thanks for listening.

Leonard Rizzo is the founder of Lennie’s Kids, a nonprofit organization that helps sick and injured animals in the foothills, promotes animal welfare and works to find homes for pets.