A couch potato type, Timber prefers to be IN the house. She goes outside, does her business, then stands at the door drooling and crying to let someone know she wants the door opened for her to come back inside. At 9:00 a.m. on August 15, Timber went outside. The child at her foster home left shortly thereafter. When she returned about two hours later, Timber was nowhere to be found. Somehow, a feat which still baffles us, Timber left. We think she was trying to find the child.

At 5:00 p.m., Timber showed up at a house 2.8 dog-walking miles away. We don't know why she picked this house (except we think God had a big hand in guiding her there), but we certainly are grateful. The wonderful Ogle and Burnett family took her in and took her to the veterinarian, where they discovered she had some broken bones in her jaw. The Ogles and Burnetts fed her bits of baby food and made her comfortable, trying to find out where she belonged.

Finally, after a series of events, about midnight on August 16, we were connected with the Ogles and Burnetts, and Timber came back to her foster home.

August 17, Timber spent the day with her veterinarian and left there in the evening to go to the hospital where her surgery will be performed. We were instructed to call on August 20 to see if she is able to come back to foster care.

What we know so far is Timber was, of course, severely dehydrated and had to be given fluids intravenously. X-rays showed three mandibular fractures. We aren't sure if there are more yet. She has a few very minor scrapes elsewhere. Fortunately, she is alive!

If you would like to see a more graphic picture of the inside of her mouth, you can click here. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HAVE A QUEASY STOMACH!

Simply put, Pet Harbor cannot pay Timber's vet bills. We operate by donation, and the donations never cover routine vet bills, much less an extraordinary vet bill. We don't yet know how much it will be in the end, but we are estimating the total to be near $1,000. As soon as we know more exactly, it will be posted here. Pet Harbor has NEVER paid this much money in veterinary expenses for one animal. We can't. We just don't have the available funds. We have had to let go of animals who required less medical care. Please help keep Timber alive. We can only do this with your help.

Update (8/23/01): So far funds expended for Part 2 of Timber's story, the results of most likely a motor vehicle accident, have been $738.04. If a cystotomy is needed, the estimated cost is an additional $400 (including X-rays). Donations received to help Timber to date total $510.

Please send your donations to

Our 501(c)(3) filing is in process and once received will be retroactive to the day of incorporation. What that means to you is your donation made today will be rendered tax-deductible as soon as we receive our IRS 501(c)(3) notification letter. If you would prefer to send the money directly to the veterinarian, contact us at (703) 583-HSKY or write to us at info@petharbor.org and we will explain how to go about doing that.

Secondly, the staff at Timber's regular veterinary office, Pet Care Centre in Fredericksburg, was phenomenal. The entire staff spent the entire day August 17 helping Timber. First it was examination, then fluids, then X-rays, and all day trying to find an affordable surgeon who could do the surgery as quickly as Timber needed it. Everyone participated. The veterinary staff was awesome. The genuine interest of everyone from the receptionists to the vet techs to the veterinarian is amazing. Although everyone participated, we particularly want to thank Dr. Kensek, Amy, Scott, Bonnie, and Cindy. Dr. Kensek herself took part of her lunchtime to sit down and call hospitals directly to get more responses.

12:15 p.m. EST - Saturday, August 18 - Timber came through surgery fine and is recovering.

10:17 a.m. - Monday, August 20 - We just talked to the surgeon. Timber still cannot eat and has had to be anesthetized every day since surgery so the doctor can feed her. She is drinking a small amount of water, though. He blends up a gruel and puts a tube in her stomach and pumps it in. It is the only way she can eat at the moment. So she can't be discharged from the hospital yet. We check again tomorrow. She was given an enema this morning to aid in elimination. She also has a possible bladder infection, perhaps brought on by the stress of the accident, and wears a pain patch.

11:43 p.m. - Thursday, August 23 - Timber is discharged from the hospital! YIPPEE! Timber's mouth reconstruction looks great! She is eating soft processed food, high-protein canned food, though she doesn't seem to want very much of it. She is on antibiotics. In ten days, the stitches will be removed from her mouth; in six weeks, the pin will be removed from her mouth that had to be placed there. She was so happy to see people she knew when we picked her up. Her prognosis looks great. The bad news is the surgeon found she has two bladder stones. Timber visited her regular vet after leaving the hospital where her mouth was reconstructed. The regular vet will wait a week until her mouth has healed more and then do an X-ray to see the stones. We hope Timber will have passed the stones naturally, but if not, she will require a cystotomy. Click on the image to see a page of Timber's pictures from 8/23/01.

12:14 A.M. - August 31, 2001 - Timber returned to both her regular vet and her surgeon Tuesday. Timber had two sets of sutures. The set inside her mouth, where she lost teeth, was plastic. The set on the side of her face (externally), where the surgeon went in to fix the bones, was metal. Both were removed Tuesday. She does have to return the end of September, first of October to have the pin inside her mouth removed. Except rawhide, she now can eat everything. Timber never minded having treats taken away from her while she was eating. At this point, since she's been deprived so long, we aren't going anywhere near when she has a treat! She has a bout of diarrhea from having to eat only the softest of food for so long. I've never seen a dog who enjoys dry food so much as she does right now! The X-rays were done Tuesday, and the bladder stones are gone. Urinalysis confirmed there were no stones. The assumption is she passed them naturally. So that meant Timber could go to a new home since all that's left to have a clean bill of health is having the pin removed. Click on the image to see the final chapter in Timber's update.