This guy may have just put himself in the running for ‘boyfriend of the year’ after he built a homemade wheelchair for his girlfriend’s dog.
James Stewart Paniagua, from Barstow in California took it upon himself to construct the mobility aid after his girlfriend’s dog Benny recently experienced some health issues, reports the Victor Valley News.
According to James, Benny – a three-year-old Pomeranian/Poodle mix – started acting very weird and skittish, then the following morning he woke up dragging his hind legs.
James told the Victor Valley News:
This scared everyone and my girlfriend’s mum ended up taking him to the animal hospital. The vets informed her that the only option for Benny would be surgery costing around $8,000 (£5,600).
Upon finding out the amount of money needed for the surgery, the family was heartbroken. “It was just too much money to even consider it,” said James.
The vets told the family Benny should be fine without the surgery, however, his quality of life wouldn’t be the same and they would need to provide constant care for him.
It was at this point that James’ creative juices started flowing and he realised he might be able to take matters into his own hands:
I needed a doggie wheelchair pretty bad and didn’t have the funds to shell out thousands of dollars. So I took a trip to Lowe’s and made one myself! A little elbow grease and patience goes a long way.
In the end he spent about $40 (£25) and not only invented but created a custom wheelchair made out of PVC pipes for Benny.
He took wheels from a $20 (£14) scooter from Wal-Mart, spent $5 (£3) on some velcro straps and close to $8 (£5) on PVC pipes, joints, and PVC cement.
It’s fair to say the results are pretty amazing and Benny looks like he’s back loving life again.
