The Rescue
So yesterday Toadlily and Tungsten show up with the saddest of sad puppies, and being the giant suckers that we are Melissa and I had no choice but to take the poor waif in. Upon arrival the girl, a Maltese mix of some sort, turned out to be quite sweet and quite skittish. We know little of her previous arrangements save that they were goddamn awful. She was kept tied up in a backyard, hardly ever fed or given water, never groomed and completely neglected.
She is skin and bones, like a concentration camp victim. It's scary to me the difference that a single day of pushing food and water for her has accomplished. Already I can feel a slightly growing tightness in the loose folds of her skin and her vertebrae and ribs don't protrude so sharply. This indicates that alot of her condition was the result of dehydration and not purely starvation. The good news is that she eats like a pig, so she should recover physically relatively quickly.
There are a few medical issues that need to be addressed. She has a case of Cherry Eye that needs to be addressed surgically and a mysterious bump on her stomache. We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow to get a basic wellness check and see what the damages for the major stuff will be. I don't think she's fixed so maybe we can work something out to take care of the other issues while she's under getting spayed. I'm under no illusions that this is something we are going to be able to get done on the cheap.
Apparently she was kept in an environment where there was alot of old motor oil because she smells of old oil and asphault, like a garage or a driveway where someone works on cars. Two baths have failed to remove the smell so I'm guessing it's going to take a few weeks or possibly even months for that to go away entirely.
Finally, her mental state appears to be pretty good, save the fact that she is very skittish in a submissive sort of way. I get the feeling that, like the oil smell, this will pass over time in the presence of a clean safe and stable environment.
She is skin and bones, like a concentration camp victim. It's scary to me the difference that a single day of pushing food and water for her has accomplished. Already I can feel a slightly growing tightness in the loose folds of her skin and her vertebrae and ribs don't protrude so sharply. This indicates that alot of her condition was the result of dehydration and not purely starvation. The good news is that she eats like a pig, so she should recover physically relatively quickly.
There are a few medical issues that need to be addressed. She has a case of Cherry Eye that needs to be addressed surgically and a mysterious bump on her stomache. We have an appointment with the vet tomorrow to get a basic wellness check and see what the damages for the major stuff will be. I don't think she's fixed so maybe we can work something out to take care of the other issues while she's under getting spayed. I'm under no illusions that this is something we are going to be able to get done on the cheap.
Apparently she was kept in an environment where there was alot of old motor oil because she smells of old oil and asphault, like a garage or a driveway where someone works on cars. Two baths have failed to remove the smell so I'm guessing it's going to take a few weeks or possibly even months for that to go away entirely.
Finally, her mental state appears to be pretty good, save the fact that she is very skittish in a submissive sort of way. I get the feeling that, like the oil smell, this will pass over time in the presence of a clean safe and stable environment.
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