Senior Dog Adopted Before Euthanasia Lives Best Life After Beating Cancer

A dog that was moments from being euthanized has been declared cancer free and is now enjoying a happy life with his new family in Southern California.

Trish Anderson Bauer and her family love animals and have been fostering and caring for cats and kittens for the last few years.

"We've rescued hundreds of kittens and cats over the last few years, and we've always said the souls who find us, find us for a purpose," Anderson Bauer told Newsweek.

Despite successfully rescuing and caring for so many cats, she never imagined she would have a dog. After encountering a traumatic situation years earlier, she had developed a fear of dogs and would even cross the road when she saw one coming.

But things changed when she faced personal heartbreak a year ago. "We lost our daughter when she was born still," Anderson Bauer explained. "Fostering and fighting for the animals held us together one day at a time."

With Christmas approaching and her grief at an all-time high, she spent hours scrolling on her phone unable to sleep.

"I was on Instagram at 3am desperately trying to escape the consuming pain I couldn't push anywhere but inward," said Anderson Bauer. "That's when I saw a post with the words 'I'm going to die in this cold lonely room,' with a photo of a German Shepherd and his eyes were as full of pain and defeat as my own."

There were thousands of comments on the post offering help, but something told the animal lover that she should write too.

"I typed, 'If you can't find anyone I could possibly transport or foster for 24 hours,'" she recalled. "After I pressed post I thought—I didn't just do that. I can't hold a dog leash. It's ok, they will have hundreds of people offering to help. He won't need me."

But the next morning, she woke to a message telling her that the dog in the photo—Wilbur—would be euthanized that day if nobody came to get him. None of the other commenters had come through for him and due to shelter overcrowding, he was on the euthanasia list.

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), 6.1 million animals enter U.S. shelters each year. While millions of animals will find new homes and be adopted, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized each year as rescuers struggle to handle demand.

"They told me he's very friendly with kids, fellow dogs, cats, and knows commands, and that's when it hit me—someone completely gave up on him and now he was dying for it," said Anderson Bauer.

Wilbur was picked up by the team at FurryTail Endings Animal Rescue—founded by Divya Cowgill—who was informed that he was at risk of being euthanized at the shelter he was in. Their post is the one seen by Anderson Bauer, who offered to foster him and went to the shelter to collect him.

"Something Much Bigger Than Me Brought Me There"

That was when she told her 10-year-old daughter to get in the car and they set off to pick up the 100-pound German shepherd.

When the family arrived, Wilbur was just 30 minutes from being euthanized. "Something much bigger than me brought me there," said Anderson Bauer. "Then he came trotting out and ran right up to my daughter as if he knew today wasn't the day he was going to die. As I bent down to look a dog in the eyes for the first time in God knows how long, he kissed me and I knew without a doubt that my guardian Angel daughter was telling me fear didn't belong in my soul."

Before they knew it, they were headed home with their new canine friend in tow. After spending the whole journey with his head out of the window, they took him into the yard to get to know their new friend.

"I took him out into the backyard and I noticed something hanging from his neck," said Anderson Bauer. "It was oozing. I thought it was maybe from the horrible collar but I was determined to ensure he was healthy and not in pain so we took him right to our vet."

FurryTail Endings Rescue continued to support the family in their journey with the rescue dog, supporting required appointments with the local vet to take care of an ear infection and bloodwork.

The vet delivered the heartbreaking news that the German Shepherd had a tumor, and without surgery, he would not survive. But, severely underweight, he wasn't healthy enough for surgery either.

Fighting to Live

"A part of me died inside," said Anderson Bauer. "My 10-year-old daughter is a cancer survivor and all our family knows is fighting to live."

After some conversation with the vet, they were given 60 days to get their newly rescued family member's weight up so that he could have surgery.

"It became our family's mission to get him strong enough to have surgery and beat cancer," explained his new owner. "Little did we know he was saving us too. We took him everywhere and wanted to show him the life he never had. He went to the beach, mountain climbing and helped us pick our daughter's memorial spot."

Incredibly, within just one month, the once underweight pup was healthy enough for surgery. Because of his age, there was still a high chance he would not make it through, but his only chance they went ahead.

"We all held each other all day waiting for the phone call to learn if he made it through or not and if they had got the tumor out," said Anderson Bauer.

But it happened—they got the call that he had made it through. The family rushed to pick up their new member and start post-surgery rehab while they waited for his pathology results to find out if the cancer was gone.

"Waiting for his pathology results felt like an eternity and when the phone rang I was so scared," said Anderson Bauer. "It brought me back to getting that phone call when my daughter was diagnosed with cancer. But then they called, 'Trish, his results are in! He's cancer free!'

"The feeling inside me finalized that he was our family member and we were going to love him for the rest of his life," she said.

"I had several adoptive families who wanted to adopt Wilbur, but after discussing with Trish, she revealed that her family would like to 'foster fail' and adopt him through our rescue," Cowgill from FurryTail Endings told Newsweek.

With a fresh start, the family also gave the pup a fresh name—instead of Wilbur, the name that was on the euthanasia list at the shelter, he would be called Cooper.

The family shared their happy news on Instagram where the video was viewed millions of times as people celebrated the happy ending for Cooper.

"Cooper simply needed humans to see value in him, and now because of him, people everywhere are finding value in lives just like his and getting involved in fighting for souls like his," said Anderson Bauer. "We can't imagine life without Cooper in it and maybe, just maybe, he will show the world every life is truly worth fighting for."

"Seeing Cooper finally have his happy ending at the age of 12 gives me hope," said Cowgill. "All these poor animals need is for someone to take a chance & believe in them—I'm beyond proud that all of us were able to come together and finally give him the life and love that he always deserved."

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UPDATE 03/27/23 10:56 a.m.: This article was updated with additional information from FurryTail Endings Animal Rescue.