[Vision2020] Homeless Vet, Best Friend Reunited

[Tom Hansen]

>From KTLA News (Los Angeles) at:

http://tinyurl.com/589w4w
 
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Homeless Vet, Best Friend Reunited
Chip Yost, KTLA News 

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.

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Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
 
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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