Sophie’s Angels: Her Long Road to Recovery

Last week the rescue community was frantic as CAWL volunteers were made aware of a tragic situation in Aurora where two Labrador Retrievers were hit by a semi truck and left on the side of the road to die. The male black lab died from his injuries, but luckily for Sophie, the beautiful chocolate pure-bred female, Malcolm and Julie McLaughlin were driving home from Texas and found her in center median of the road watching the traffic.

The dog, with no tags or microchip, was rushed to Seven Hills Vet Center in Aurora, CO and and was found to have a sinus fracture, a jaw fracture, and a possible ligament injury to her left front leg. Even with all of her injuries, Sophie prognosis was an 70-80% chance of full recovery – with a slight chance the leg would have to amputated if it didn’t heal from the ligament damage.

Sophie’s angels, the McLaughlin’s have spent close to $2,000 on medical care for her and hope to raise another $2,000 to cover any medical care she needs in the next six weeks while healing from her accident. The Heigl Foundation also made a generous donation for Sophie’s care.

Sophie’s story touched the heartstrings of CAWL volunteer Julie Cox especially hard. She was the first to approach the CAWL Board of Directors and express her desire to help Sophie. While we waited for a decision from the McLaughlin’s on how they wanted Sophie cared for during her recovery period, Julie spent hours with the dog at Seven Hills laying with her, petting her, and coaxing her to hang on. She was instrumental in opening a space at one of our foster homes for Sophie’s recovery and organized a meeting between the McLaughlin’s and Maggie, the foster mom, to ensure the McLaughlin’s had a level of comfort with the foster home and our organization.

Graciously, the McLaughlin’s allowed Sophie to enter our program and be cared for by Maggie during her recovery. Maggie keeps in touch with the McLaughlin’s regularly to give them updates on her improvement.

Maggie must currently feed gruel to Sophie with a baster while her jaw heals, and says Sophie is improving daily.  Today Sophie drank water by herself for the first time which was quite a celebration at Maggie’s house!

Sophie will remain in foster care with CAWL until she is fully recovered from her injuries. At that point, Malcolm and Julie have requested the opportunity of potentially adopting her. Assuming she stays on track, Sophie should be available for adoption in May.

A huge thank you goes out from the team at CAWL to Sophie’s angels: Malcolm and Julie McLaughlin, Maggie (Sophie’s foster mom) at CAWL, Julie Cox at CAWL, the vets and staff at Seven Hills Vet Center, and the volunteer rescue crossposters that made sure Sophie’s story was seen by all.

Donations for Sophie’s care made through the Colorado Animal Welfare League are tax deductible and will go directly to Sophie’s veterinary care and boarding needs while at Maggie’s.

UPDATE: Sophie has exceeded expectations regarding her improvement and is being adopted by the McLaughlin’s thus, we are no longer collecting for her ongoing care. A huge thank you to all who donated for her veterinary care! Your donations will be provided to the McLaughlin’s for Sophie’s bandage changes and spay surgery.