Canela the dying, orphaned pit bull is living his last days in a love-filled home thanks to the brilliant idea of his doctors, Maria Steelman and Maria Rivero.
When Canela arrived at a San Francisco-area shelter, he had a big, inoperable tumor on his ear and was destined to euthanized, The Huffington Post reported.
Instead of euthanizing him right away, his doctors had another idea. They placed Canela in a love-filled home for his remaining days so he could die happy. The doctors reportedly found him a foster home to live out the rest of his days through a program called the Rainbow Bridge Fund.
"We have a feeling there will be many who will need to live out their remaining days with special, committed fosters who believe in end of life care," Steelman told HuffPost. "These animals knew love at one time, and something went very wrong. It is hard to face the death of a companion animal, but by far it is much harder to think of that animal alone and scared as it leaves this earth."
Rivero ended up fostering Canela with her partner, Derek Kerr, a retired hospice doctor. Together the couple got Canela a massage therapist and gave him his own couch, reported HuffPost. They also take him on walks and have three other pups for him to spend his days with.
"Once a diagnosis is made, and it is bad, a dog can still find peace and comfort in a home," Steelman told HuffPost. "Dogs don't have a great sense of time, so a week of love in a home can make up for a lot of past sadness."
With the help of his loving doctors and the Rainbow Bridge Fund, Canela died happy and in the presence of loved ones like he truly deserved.
