Perhaps you read the story in last week’s paper about the dog that was hit by a car on Fisher Ferry Road Monday.

Good Samaritans, including a Warren County Sheriff’s Office deputy and Georgia Lynn of the Vicksburg-Warren County Humane Society, tried to find the dog’s owner in the vicinity of the accident, but were unsuccessful.

They took the dog to the a Vicksburg veterinary clinic, which Lynn said treated it for shock and pain, while others looked for its owner.

Thanks to lots of sharing on Facebook, the dog’s family saw the post and stepped forward.

The dog — seven-month-old Remington — was severely injured. On Friday, Remington underwent surgery to amputate one of his legs, which could not be saved.

Allie Garrison, his owner, emailed us on Saturday morning with a status update on Remington.

“They performed the amputation on Friday around 4 p.m.,” Garrison wrote. He had complications after the surgery and had to be resuscitated.”

She said the veterinarian told her on Saturday morning that Remington was doing better, in fact better than he had been since he has been there.

“They were able to get him to finally stand up and sit up, which is great. It means he does not have nerve damage to his spine,” Garrison said. “He still has one more surgery to his hip that needs to be performed once he is stable from his last surgery. He is slowly improving daily. The doctor has said he is a great patient and gives them no problems or complaints at all when they are changing bandages and cleaning his wounds.”

The cost of Remington’s medical care is going to be extensive, and Garrison began a GoFundMe account to help with those expenses. She said it has been shared more than 100 times “and has had some great people donate to his cause.”

If you are interested in donating to help pay for Remington’s care, you can go to the GoFundMe site and search for Help for Remington, or type in this link: gofundme.com/gb8b3x-help-for-remington.

Remington’s owners said he did not typically travel far when they let him out. However, when he went out last Sunday night, he didn’t come home, and the accident happened Monday morning.

Unfortunately, Remington’s fate reminds us that spring — and love — is in the air not only for humans, but also for our animal friends.

Remington is an intact male, meaning he hasn’t been neutered, and while no one knows why he wandered further than usual, it could have had something to do with that.

Please get your animals spayed and neutered. It takes only one trip to the Vicksburg-Warren County Humane Society to know that the overpopulation of dogs and cats here is a serious problem, and an absolute tragedy for the animals.

While the Humane Society works to place dogs and cats in loving homes, it’s simply not possible to place all of them. And so many litters of puppies are simply “taken for rides” and abandoned or worse. Puppies and kittens can be spayed and neutered at very young ages now. Low-cost spay and neutering is available through Mississippi Spay and Neuter. That clinic comes to Vicksburg, picks up animals and transports them to its clinic for surgery, then returns the animals to owners here. For more information on that transport program, call the Big Fix Clinic Transport Program at 601-420-2439.

Spay and neuter surgery is also available at reasonable rates at all Vicksburg veterinary clinics.

We hope once it’s determined that Remington will make a full recovery, his owners will have him neutered. That’s a step that will help him lead a longer and healthier life.

Jan Griffey is editor of The Vicksburg Post. You may reach her at jan.griffey@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.