Dharma, Katie Hogan’s 6-year-old hound mix, was unusually well-behaved on her 3/4-mile walk around the trailer park they called home.
“I wish I would have let her sniff every piece of grass and pee on everything she wanted to and take our time,” Hogan said. “If only I would have known.”
Hogan, fourth-year veterinary student, scolded 4-year-old Rueben, a domestic shorthair, for eating out of Wednesday, her 5-month-old tortoise-shell kitten’s bowl.
“I remember scolding him like, ‘Stop, Rueben. You’re going to get fatter,’” Hogan said.
That was Dharma’s last walk and the last time she would scold Rueben.
Hogan’s pets died in a fire that destroyed her home on Monday, Feb. 1. She was at school, sitting in the critical care rounds room working on a computer when she heard the news of the “devastating” fire.
“Rachel, a girl who lives in the park and who’s also a fourth-year vet student, opens the door and says, ‘Katie, I’m really sorry to have to tell you this, but your house is on fire,’” Hogan said. “I just ran ... I remember just crying and saying, ‘Bring me my pets, bring me my pets.’ And so after they got the fire under control, I was able to go see them, and I just sat with them for a little while.”
“They were on a little tarp out there,” Hogan said. “I remember running up and crying and seeing them, and everybody that was already here was crying for me.”
If someone looks through the charred remains of the front room that used to be her bedroom, they can almost see down the length of the trailer. Inside, much of what used to be her belongings lie untouched. It would be a typical student’s living room, except for the wilted ceiling fan, melted glass windows, lingering smell of smoke and black soot.
The soot coats everything except for one patch in front of the refrigerator. She thinks that’s where the firefighters found Dharma.
“They immediately busted down that door and grabbed Dharma,” Hogan said. “They put oxygen on her and everything. They tried their best.”
Hogan had Dharma since her days at Murray State, where she earned her undergraduate degree. Dharma was a Carmen dog, named for the Carmen Pavilion, where they keep seven or eight dogs so veterinary students at Murray State can learn how to perform medical treatments.
“I joked that she knew I was her mom way before I did,” Hogan said. “When I decided to take her, I still had a year left of school, and so I would work on training her every day.”
Hogan’s mother and grandmother came from Kentucky to be with Hogan as she began to piece her life back together.
“My mom made it her personal mission to salvage my vet school white coat and some quilts and stuff like that,” Hogan said. “She washed them like six times. ... I was thankful we could get some mementos. I got my dog’s collar and my cat’s little blanky.”
Hogan is set up in a temporary trailer on the opposite side of the park.
She said separation from her old home is nice so she doesn’t have to see the wreckage and relive the memories daily.
“I turned the key to my trailer this morning and half-expected to see Dharma there,” Hogan said. “I think kind of getting separated from it, by not being here, has been good for me. I really appreciate Avalon for setting me up in a trailer for basically $1. ... It can be normal without being the same.”
Tommy Poole, fourth-year veterinary student and class of 2016 president, set up a GoFundMe when he heard about the fire.
He said everyone in the class wanted to help out.
“When things like this happen, we often want to help, but don’t know how,” Poole said.
The GoFundMe raised $21,210 in one week, more than $7,000 over the goal of $14,000.
Hogan wants to set up a fund to help out with adoption fees for other Carmen dogs like Dharma.
“It’s been awesome to see the outpouring of love and support for Katie,” Poole said.
Poole said the response is “powerful” and reflects the Auburn Family.
“It’s really been refreshing to see people who truly care about each other and help each other in times of need,” Poole said.
Hogan said the GoFundMe has made the past week “bearable.”
“I never imagined that this would happen, but if I did, I don’t think I would have imagined that the response would be this amazing,” Hogan said.
“All my physical needs are taken care of,” Hogan said. “My nana joked that I’ll never have to buy shampoo again.”
She said the support she has received from her classmates and even strangers has touched her, and she never expected the level of support.
“Everybody’s been there for me, from the receptionist at the desk to the dean of the vet school,” Hogan said. “Every vet student, even first-years I’ve never met ... vet school is a very demanding four years, and during that, when I’d come home, my pets were there for support, and so I think that everybody relates to that.”
Hogan took the week after the fire off from school, but plans to start a research rotation and ultimately return to the critical care rotation she was on.
She has been talking with a counselor with the University’s Student Counseling Services, and encourages that for anyone going through a tragedy.
“Just having someone to talk through things and having a professional telling you, ‘This is normal,’” Hogan said.
Hogan said people can continue to help her by donating to the Lee County Humane Society in her pets’ names.
“I had planned on staying at a campsite with my pets,” Hogan said. “I’ve decided not to live at the campsite. I think it will be too sad.”
Hogan will have a memorial for Dharma, Rueben and Wednesday on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at the Omega Tau Sigma house.
“I guess once it’s physical, this is them, they’re in little boxes, that will be hard,” Hogan said.
Hogan tries to remember the happy memories with her pets instead of the fire. She holds onto their personality quirks.
“Once we walked in and somebody said, ‘Oh no, that’s the dog that bulldozes,’” Hogan said. “She loved to run fast into other dogs. ...(Rueben) would sit on my desk and look out the blinds and spy on people, and so I’d think about that. I called him my furry little creep — he’s a little weirdo. And then my Wednesday cat was just always being silly, playing with toys or shoelaces or anything that moved. ... It’s been a good four years.”
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