02-07-2025
Senior Dog 'Riddled With Cancer' Taken To Shelter, Woman Knows What To Do
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
A senior dog struggling with terminal cancer looked set to be surrendered to his local shelter, until a woman watching on intervened.
Chrissy Elder, the owner of Forgotten Now Family Rescue in Charlotte, North Carolina, was in the right place at the right time for Sammy the 15-year-old dog. It was an encounter chronicled in a video posted to her TikTok, chrissyrescuer.
Elder told Newsweek she was collecting another dog currently in her care when she noticed "a man on the bench with tears in his eyes and a senior dog, nervous by his side." That dog was Sammy.
Eager to provide help, Elder asked the man what was going on. He told her he was there to surrender Sammy because he "couldn't care for him anymore."
There are any number of reasons why someone may choose to surrender a pet to a shelter. A 2022 study from Frontiers in Veterinary Science identified the most commonly cited reasons as having too many dogs already (19 percent), housing issues (17 percent), personal issues (15 percent), financial issues (10 percent), dog behavior (10 percent), and guardian health (8 percent).
Though no one likes seeing a pet surrendered, it's braver and far more considerate than abandonment, and each instance should be viewed on its own merits.
In the case of Sammy, it was clear to Elder that his owner was struggling with the demands of caring for a terminally ill dog. But something else was clear to her too. "The shelter wasn't the answer," Elder said.
In that moment, she knew she could do something positive for Sammy and his family. "I asked if he would be willing to take our help instead," Elder said. "Though he would ultimately still need to surrender Sammy, he was thankful we could at least take to a more quiet environment and try to find a hospice foster."
Elder has a network of foster carers equipped to help dogs like Sammy enjoy their remaining days in peace. As they discussed the best course of action, another woman in the lobby of the shelter stepped forward to offer help in transporting Sammy back to Elder's shelter.
Together, the three of them walked Sammy out to the waiting car in what was clearly a difficult but necessary moment for his owner. "He walked him out to her car and cried. He loaded Sammy," Elder said.
It was an experience of conflicting emotions for Elder. A sense of "extreme sadness" at Sammy's situation but also "compassion" for what his owner was going through in that moment, after 15 years together.
"I unfortunately don't know what led the owner to finally make the decision but I do know they were very thankful we took him instead of him passing on the shelter floor," she said. "They cried and thanked us."
Elder is now focused on finding a place for Sammy to get the "comfort and love" he deserves in his final few months. Though she acknowledges he is living in a "cancer riddled body," she said he is also "comfortable and such a thankful guy."
"He loves laying on his bed. He didn't deserve to end his life on the shelter floor so I am so thankful our rescue could help," Elder said.
Sammy is comfortable and, with a little hope and a lot of love and care, he will live to see a 16th birthday away from the confines of a standard shelter.
