Taylor Calhoun, a licensed vet tech at Clinton Pet Vet, proved to the world just how important it is to be empathetic in this profession when a picture of her cuddling up with a terminally ill dog went viral. The New York-born vet was photographed by the dog’s owner, Cindy Siddon, as she laid next to her dog, Rizz.
Rizz the pit bull mix was battling bone cancer, and things had recently taken a turn for the worst.
The sweet little dog had fought hard to battle the illness and had even successfully recovered from an operation to amputate her front leg last year where the bone cancer’s tumor was. But sadly, just three weeks ago, she had been playing with her six other doggy siblings when she had suddenly fallen ill again.
“She’s a rescue I’ve had for a number of years and she now has bone cancer,” Cindy explained. “She has developed a kind of uncommon side effect of the cancer, so we are treating her every week with some experimental holistic treatments and pain meds.”
When Rizz went in for her treatments every Thursday, Taylor made sure to always lie next to the pup on her lunch breaks- and her sweet actions didn’t go amiss by Cindy.
She snapped a sweet picture of the pair cuddling one day, and she shared it on Facebook, where it had a profound effect on people all over the world.
“Rizz went in today for another vitamin c infusion and more cuddles with taylor…..she goes back tomorrow for another pain infusion….unfortunately although we seem to be keeping the cancer at bay the HO is progressing and she’s becoming more painful….we’ll kind of take it one day at a time from here,” Cindy wrote in the post.
Rizz went in today for another vitamin c infusion and more cuddles with taylor…..she goes back tomorrow for another…
Posted by Cindy Siddon on Thursday, 12 November 2020
Taylor’s care and compassion can truly be seen in the sweet picture, and many people sent their prayers to Rizz. But sadly, on Wednesday night, Cindy made the heartbreaking decision to have Rizz put down.
While Rizz is now making her way over the rainbow bridge, Cindy will never forget how Taylor was there for her dog in her moment of need.
“She is extremely kind and compassionate and had taken a liking to my dog,” Cindy said. “You can’t teach this in college and you either have [this compassion] or you don’t, and this girl gets it. It is just heartwarming.”
Rizz’s death has left a huge hole in many people’s lives. Cindy, who also runs a dog rescue service, said that the mood back at home was somber after Rizz’s passing. It was like her dogs could sense that Rizz wouldn’t be returning home.
Thanks to Taylor’s caring approach, Cindy can at least feel some comfort that Rizz had a peaceful send-off. We need more vets in the world like Taylor!
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