N.B. family gets 'amazing outpour' of community support for vet bills

After a scare with their pup at the beginning of December, a Salisbury, N.B., family is feeling extra thankful for both their dog and the community around them.

Five-month-old Lilly is a Border Collie-Golden Labrador mix who was diagnosed with the canine parvovirus early last month.

“It started with her getting sick very fast,” said owner Carla Finck. “It’s one of those things that you don’t think that’s going to happen to you, but then when it does it just hits you and it was almost like there was no hope for a while.”

The plan was always to get Lilly vaccinated against parvo after Christmas, but Finck says the dog ended up coming into contact with the virus through wild animal feces.

She ended up spending six days at the Riverview Animal Hospital and racked up a veterinary bill of more than $7,000.

“They had told me that by that time she had a 50/50 chance, which really hit us hard,” she said.

Finck’s friend started a GoFundMe and the community really stepped up.

“It was just an amazing outpour of people that helped and that’s when I just continued to reach out,” she said. “Normally I wouldn’t. I don’t like asking for help, especially for stuff like this, but we reached out for help and so far we have raised a little over half of our vet bill already.”

In total more than $2,000 worth of items were collected in Salisbury and Petitcodiac, both from businesses and individuals.

“There’s about probably over 45 businesses, like small, big, every business that we could possibly go and ask, we asked and almost every one of them responded with something, little or big,” said Finck.

The donations have now been divided into three raffle baskets to help raise money for the vet bill.

The Finck family has been receiving donations to help raise money for their dog's veterinary bill. (Alana Pickrell/CTV Atlantic)

“We do whatever we can do help one another,” said Laura Reid, the assistant manager of Salisbury Home Hardware. “It’s nice that somebody can come in and know that they can depend on people to give you items, like to do for raffles or whatever, so that they can make the money to pay an excessive bill.”

Gaxiola Mexican Restaurant in Salisbury also donated to the Finck family.

“It makes me proud,” said Sarah Gaxiola. “It makes me proud to be from Salisbury and it makes me proud to be a business owner and in a position where I’m able to contribute something even if it’s just a taco dinner for two and I think anyone in the community who’s buying these tickets is going to find something that’s good for them.”

She is also planning to do a paint night at the restaurant on Jan. 26 with the funds going towards the vet bill.

“It feels really great that as a whole community we could come together to do something even though it’s just a small part of what everyone has done. I’m just glad to be part of it,” said Gaxiola.

Currently the raffle box is located at Gaxiola Mexican Restaurant and tickets can be bought in person or via e-transfer.

The draw is scheduled to take place on Jan. 27.

As for the Finck family, their main piece of advice following this situation is to get your pets vaccinated right away and avoid the stress they went through.

The family, which now has Lilly back home, is also thankful to be a part of their community.

“A lot of these people who have donated, they don’t have the money to do so, so they donated part of their business basically and everyone’s just amazing,” said Finck. “We’ve really felt very loved and a part of the community more than we ever have really.” 

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