I just responded to this Craigslist post...

This poor lady has a lot on her plate, and I send her an email and told her about BPO. I hope she joins us!

"I've always been an animal lover, I would rather be around animals than people. I've been a vegan my whole life and I won't wear any animal products on my body. I have rescued over 100 feral cats and paid out of my own pocket to have them fixed, people dump them on my property..it's so sick. I live on a ranch so these idiots think the cats will have a home, what they don't realize is there are MANY coyotes out there who will tear the cats apart..anyway on to the issue at hand. The reason I told you a little about myself is because I want you to understand that animals have ALWAYS come first in my life.

I have a dog that is paralyzed from the waist down, my vet says he is not in pain but because he is so HUGE I can't just make a little cart so he can walk around..he spends his life just laying down. I spend my life changing diapers on him, giving him medications and cleaning him up. I quit my job so I could take care of him full time. I'm exhausted. I have no one to talk to and I am so depressed, I don't know what to do. I know this is not a good life for my dog, but I can't put him down, he's my best friend. There has to be a solution does anyone know of anything? He will play with me with his front paws, he will play tug of war with chew toys, he's so responsive, I can't kill him just because he can't walk..it doesn't seem right.

Regardless I can't physically walk into my vets office and put my dog down, I would probably have a heart attack and pass out. I just watched my mother die of breast cancer and I can't watch my dog die as well.

Does anyone else have something similiar going on right now? He's a great dane and he weighs 180 pounds, I made him a cart out of a wheel chair so he could walk but I can't get him into it by myself.

Please don't bother sending me mean emails, I won't respond. I'm doing the best I can, and you don't know what I'm going through right now. You may call me selfish, but why would I kill my dog simply because he can't walk? It's cruel and it's the easy way out. If my dog is not in pain why would I do something like that?

I've paid for extensive testing on him and my vet has assured me he's not in any pain.

I guess what I am looking for is support or someone who's gone or going through the same thing to maybe give me tips or ideas. Does anyone know of a specialist that I can take my dog to that can help me a little more? I don't think my vet knows what he's doing and he doesn't seem to care about my dog.

I want to triple check to see if he's in pain, because if he's hurting or suffering in anyway, that would change everything, I would NEVER keep him alive if I knew he was suffering.

It's so much work just to change his diapers because he's so huge. I can't leave to go anywhere because he will bark non stop literally from morning till night, I have been evicted and I am not sure what to do now. That's why I had to quit my job and stay home to take care of him.

If you can give me some help ( advice ) I would be forever grateful.

Please don't tell me to contact the great dane rescue, I rescued a dane from them and my dog had a life threatening disease and was near death when I took him to UC Davis, come to find out they knew he had this disease and didn't tell me. This is not the same dane that is paralyzed. I still have the dane from the great dane rescue, I don't believe in giving up a pet, but I won't rescue from them again, this is just MY experience with them, they maybe a good organization but I had a horrible time.

Thanks for your help in this matter."

There are a couple companies who make custom wheelchairs for dogs based on their size. I researched this years ago when i thought I was going to need a wheelchair for Oasis. Can you send her these links?

http://www.wheelchairsfordogs.com/

http://www.dogkarts.com/

http://www.dogstogo.net/

http://www.k-9cart.com/

She's somewhere in the San Francisco bay area (north bay area). I agree about being skeptical about things people post on the web - especially Craig's list. It seems like she is just asking for a friend and support. Hopefully she will check out BPO!