Heartwarming stories are all around us. They are what inspire us, move us, and most importantly make us feel alive. When we read stories about acts of kindness or good deeds, we are inspired to become a better version of ourselves and show kindness to others to make the world a better place. This is one of those heartbreaking but inspiring stories when good wins and a mixture of compassion and empathy creates a miracle that saves the precious life of another.
It all started on October 12th, 2018, when Kylina Turner was doing a property inspection for work. She spotted a small bundle of fur in the backyard that turned out to be a little puppy!
“I thought he was a stuffed animal,” Turner told The Dodo. “He was completely frozen still, staring at me. I figured I should check just in case, and as I walked up to him his ear twitched.”
“I was completely shocked that this was an animal,” Turner added, “let alone a living one.” The poor puppy couldn’t move as his legs were stuck in a wire bed frame, he didn’t have water or food and had a bad sunburn from sitting under direct sunlight.
As she found out later, the tenant had found him wandering around and decided to bring him into his backyard. He called animal control to get him, however, 2 days later they didn’t come and the poor thing was ‘too gross to touch’ so the tenant just left him. Turner carefully untangled him, put him in the car and brought him to the closest vet as she wasn’t sure whether or not he would be able to endure a 20-minute ride to the nearest animal shelter.
“He wasn’t scared of me and didn’t make a sound,” Turner said. “He just watched what I was doing with a blank look in his eyes. I think he knew I was going to help him.”
When Turner arrived, the vet team made sure he was stable and checked him. A checkup revealed that the puppy was malnourished, sunburned and dehydrated, and had a horrible case of mange. “The vet techs told me they would keep him there and pool their money to pay for his recovery,” Turner said. “That night I started a GoFundMe for Caro.”
On the day he came in he weighed 18 pounds, an estimated 6 months old German Shepherd should weight about 50. Over the coming weeks, the worried Turner visited the dog every day and found herself growing attached to him. “During the week Caro was at the vet, I visited and checked on him daily,” Turner said. “The techs were always very excited about the littlest things — ‘He lifted his head up today’, ‘He walked to the other side of his kennel today’, ‘He was able to eat solid food today’. It was heartbreaking.”
Once Caro left the vet she decided to adopt him, giving her 7-year-old dog, Casey, a good companion. The first weeks weren’t easy as Turner had to give Caro medicated baths to treat his mange and feed him smalls meals four times a day in order to help him put on some weight.
Luckily, hard work paid off and Caro gained more weight and his thick brown and black fur began to grow in.
