Community comes together to save Kali-Princess

On March 2, in the middle of a snowstorm, after taking their kids to the movies, Kaylin Casner and Carl McCain saved the life of one lucky furry pal. Before they took her home, they found she had a severely broken leg. The outpouring of support from the community led to more than $1,000 in donations to get her back to health.

“I was pulling up to the light, right where you turn to go to Jack-in-the-Box and I saw a dog cross Main Street,” said Casner. A few minutes later, the two spotted the dog again, now over by Safeway. With the dog sprinting behind the store, they followed her around back. McCain got out of the car and carefully corralled the dog, that was still trying to avoid capture.

“I was thinking that she’s scared, she’s hurt and it’s cold and the poor thing is probably full of adrenaline,” said Casner about the dog during the incident.

McCain said, “I went full sprint for a good two minutes going back and forth as she was doing that. She kept holding her leg up and she would also fall over face first. She was obviously lost.”

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“He finally gets her to stop and she’s staring at him. He moved in slowly and gently scooped her up and brought her into the car,” Casner said.

“Once I got her into the car, she didn’t want to leave my arms,” said McCain.

The two took pictures and posted them on a Facebook group called Susanville Needs, asking around if anyone knew about the dog’s rightful owners. Casner said no one came to claim the dog. They found out that the dog was one of three that were dumped around WalMart.

The next day, they found out one of those dogs was hit by a vehicle and died, with the third dog also being rescued by another loving family.

The day they picked up the dog was a Friday, so the couple had to wait until the following Monday to seek care for the dog. They kept her as comfortable as they could until then.

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When the couple picked up the dog, they originally assumed from its physical state the dog had been hit by a vehicle. While at the veterinarian’s, they were told the dog was closer to two or three years old. They were also told the dog needed to have her leg amputated because of all the severe damage. She also needed to have surgery for her cherry-eye and needed to be spayed, bringing the costs to more than $1,300. With those high costs, the couple didn’t know what to do.

Someone advised the couple to put up an account through a crowdfunding donation called youcaring.com. On the site, Casner and McCain gave a description of the circumstances surrounding the need and hoped for the best. What happened next was completely unexpected.

By the next morning, the account had $850 and within three days it had reached more than $1,000. Between additional personal cash donations and donations made to the veterinarian, they had more than $1,300 to help out the pup.
Casner said, “We paid for her amputation surgery and then put the rest of the money on her account at the vet’s to go back and get her spayed and her eye fixed.”

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They sent out thank you cards to all of those who donated who weren’t anonymous. Casner went on to say, “Every single person who donated, either lived in or was originally from Lassen County.”

The couple found out the dog was younger than they had anticipated. With the condition they found her, they assumed the dog was older, but upon further inspection from the veterinarian were told she was closer to 2 years old. Kali-Princess now their “shadow” and part of the family for the rest of her happy and blessed life.

Casner said she has written many thank you cards and letters since, but there were many local anonymous benefactors. She wanted to take the chance to thank them, for they’ve made Kali-Princess’s recovery from her incident possible.