Thread: The Feel Good Story of the Day

Dear veteran: Your best pal's waiting to go home
By Dennis McCarthy, Columnist
Updated: 07/29/2008 01:27:44 AM PDT



Kaiser is held by head treatment technician David Reid in the Pet Medical Center/Chat Oak in Granada Hills, Monday, July 28, 2008. Kaiser was dropped off at the clinic with a tearful letter by a homeless vet after he thought his dog was dying. Now Kaiser is getting better and the hospital staff is looking to reach the vet to let him know. (Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer)

It had to be one of the toughest, most heartbreaking decisions the guy ever made - walking up to Chatoak Pet Medical Center in Granada Hills before it opened the morning of July 21 and leaving his best friend, Kaiser, on the doorstep.

The scribbled handwriting on the envelope of the letter he left, along with a bowl of water and a blanket to keep his ailing friend warm, said as much:

"Please help him. His name is Kaiser and he won't harm anyone. He's 16 years old and I think he experienced a stroke this past evening. Be good to him as you would your own child for he's been mine 4 a loving lifetime."

Debbie Herot, the pet hospital's practice manager, looked down at the old dog trying to stand on wobbly legs and felt tears well up in her eyes as she began to read the letter.

"Dear Dr's - Please forgive me for this horrible transgression. I've no where to turn so I ask you to mercifully, gently, and lovingly, please help him sleep.

"He's been my friend, my teacher, my pupil, my lifelong loving and loyal companion since he was 8 months old. Saturday evening he began rolling on his back on the floor, all 4 legs extended, rigid, and thrusting wildly in all directions.

"I saw fear and panic in his eyes. He won't drink water and he refuses food as if he's totally lost the knowledge of what to do with food.

"I'm a homeless, disabled vet and I know when to say goodbye to a friend, and it's time."

But he was wrong.

It wasn't time. The hospital staff took his moving epitaph to heart and treated Kaiser as they would their own child.

See the Video

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_10027349

They gave him a ton of TLC, paid for with the last bit of money left in a fund started by the family of a 24-year-old former employee, Eric Flesher, who was killed as a passenger in a car struck by a drunk driver in 2007.

The fund is for animals who are hurt and whose owners don't have enough money to help them. Kaiser and the homeless, disabled vet.

"He wouldn't eat so we force-fed him, shoving meatballs made of healthy foods down his throat," Debbie said Monday.

"Slowly, Kaiser began to respond from the likely stroke he had suffered. We waited until Thursday, when he could finally stand, to start the search for his owner."

The staff went out and put up fliers with Kaiser's picture and story on poles and trees all over town.

"One of our employees was almost arrested for vandalism," Debbie said. "The police pulled up and said it was against the law, that fliers could only be posted on private property.

"They told her to take them down and drove off. We left them up. We weren't advertising for a garage sale. We were trying to find a homeless, disabled vet to let him know his dog didn't die, come and get him."

Sometimes compassion and a little common sense trump the law.

The hospital's staff went to gas stations and liquor stores asking for permission to put up the fliers on their property. No one said no.

"We went over to the Sepulveda VA and posted fliers all over the property, hoping he was receiving services there and would see one. But, so far, no luck."

So, they came to the local newspaper, which is the eyes and ears of any community - when it's doing its job right.

They hope someone, somewhere out there in the big, sprawling San Fernando Valley might read this column and recognize Kaiser.

Let his owner know his best friend is still alive and waiting for him.

Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. dennis.mccarthy@dailynews.com 818-713-3749

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_10027349

Geez AB........this is the second time in a week you've made me shed a tear or two over the kindness of people who go above and beyond to reach out to someone else when they need it the most


Thank God Kaiser seems to be on the mend and hopefully they will find his owner soon!!! It's never easy to do the right thing and say goodbye to your pets. The man did the kindest, most selfless thing any pet owner can do and he's gotten a rare second chance with his beloved dog.

I'm looking for the rest of the story ... it's not done yet

I think we need these things to keep our spirits up, that there is hope

Gog bless our veterans and lord pay special attention to this fellow

It's stories like this that make me tear up

GRANADA HILLS -- The dog left on the doorstep of the southern California pet clinic was sick. The letter left with him was heartbreaking.

"Dear Drs., please forgive me for this horrible transgression. I have no where else to turn so I ask you to mercifully, gently and lovingly please help him sleep. His name is Kaiser and he's 16-and-a half years old. He's been my friend, my teacher, my pupil, my lifelong loving and loyal companion," the letter said.

On the envelope, the author of the letter said that he thought Kaiser had two strokes the night before.

"Be good to him as you would your own child, for he's been mine for a loving lifetime," the envelope read.

Inside, the writer continued to pour his heart out.

"We've been together 24-7 365 days a year since he was 8 months old. He's gentle, smart, and I'll miss him more than I could admit. Saturday evening, without warning or any outside influence, he began rolling on his back on the floor, all four legs extended, rigid and thrusting wildly in all directions. I saw fear and panic in his otherwise unrecognizable eyes. His head was pulled down to his right, and he seemed unable to do otherwise. If I had to render a guess I would say it appeared as though he had a stroke. He can stand, but 85 percent unsteady. He's fearfully reacting to attempts to get him to drink water. He refuses food as though he's totally lost knowledge of what to do with food."

"I'm a homeless disabled vet, and I know when it's time to say goodbye to a friend, and it's time now. He's such a part of my being, I'll once again be alone in my life. I love you Kaiser, thank you for caring, sincerely, Kaiser's Soul Mate."

Debbie Herot, a manager at Pet Medical Center Chatoak in Granada Hills, found the letter and the dog on the clinic doorstep as she came in to work last week.

Though she tries to keep an emotional distance from the pets she sees, in this case, she couldn't do it.

"After you're in this business for so long you learn to look the other way, because we have to euthanize animals. This one i couldn't euthanize," Herot said.

Instead, Herot tried to turn another loss into a gain. Last year, 23-year-old clinic employee Eric Flesher died in a car crash. Herot said he used to hate seeing animals come in that couldn't get treatment because their owners couldn't afford the cost of the care. So after his death, his family set up a fund to help animals like Kaiser. It's likely Flesher would be happy with how it was used in this case.

Herot said it turned out that Kaiser hadn't had a stroke, but a much less serious illness that he is now almost fully recovered from.

With Kaiser doing better and the words of the letter still ringing in their heads, clinic employees set out to find Kaiser's owner.

The story of the homeless vet's letter eventually made it into the ear of Daily News columnist Dennis McCarthy. He ran titled: "Dear Veteran: Your best pal's waiting to go home." It ran on the front page - above the fold.

The story got KTLA's attention, and we went out to the clinic to film a segment about the search for Kaiser's owner. We didn't have to wait long for the happy ending everybody was hoping for. While we were there filming, Bob Mikolasko showed up at the clinic. He had seen the story in the Daily News.

After correctly answering some questions about Kaiser that only he would know, Herot became convinced they found Kaiser's "Soul Mate."

More evidence came when they were reunited, with Kaiser's tail wagging so vigorously it looked as though it was going to knock our camera off balance.

Before he left, Mikolasko thanked the stafff profusely and - summing up his feelings - proved to be just as poignant with the spoken word, as he had been with the written.

"When you leave your house in the morning and go to work and you don't see them until you come back, well, that's one lifestyle. You develop a rapport. I spent 11 years in a motor home living on the streets here, 24-7 with him. There was no baby sitter. There's no break. There's no summer vacation. There's no going to work - when i go to work he goes with me," Mikolasko said.

With that type of relationship, Mikolasko said you become more than just owner and pet.

"You end up with a lot different understanding and relationship with your pet... and he was never looked at as a pet, he was always a part of, me."


Thanks to everyone who helped, he still is.

https://www.virb.com/ohkate/blog/857710

Originally Posted by AirborneSapper7

I'm looking for the rest of the story ... it's not done yet

I think we need these things to keep our spirits up, that there is hope

Gog bless our veterans and lord pay special attention to this fellow

Thanks for posting the happy ending AB!!

And I absolutely agree.......we all DO need things like this to boost spirits and realize there's hope.

It's far too easy to lose hope these days

I am currently tring to find a lost cat in my neighborhood. While I got two scary calls that may have been pranks, or else attempts to set me up for a robbery, and one guy was grumpy and tore down my sign, everyone else has been wonderful. I see numerous cases where people have torn off the tags with my phone numbers from my signs so they can call if they see him. There is a kitty who looks like him in a nearby neighborhood - I've gotten three calls about her. Just last night I got a call from a man who lost a small dog, and he called back for more details. From my experience, I'd have to say that the good people of this world, the ones who try to help, outnumber the bad guys around 10 to 1. That's a good thing, and gives me great hope for our country in these trying times.