Skinny dog - day 2

First thing this morning - rushed to the vet to get the dog. Kept thinking ''what if she didn't make it through the night''...

She made it and was already looking better, after the bath and some food. I wish i could have taken a picture of her the previous day, to show how terrified, dirty and skinny she looked, but i was otherwise occupied.



So here she is. The vet's diagnosis is:
terribly malnourished, to a point where too much food could burst her stomach or kill her kidneys. I have to feed her puppy food mixed with water, a table spoon every 3 hours.

her one eye seems to be on its way out, or as the doctor put it ''ready to pop'' (*shiver*). Possibly due to a sustained injury. I am given an eye ointment to apply 3 times a day. The doctor says the eye may have to be removed all together. She would have done it there and then, as it may be causing pain, but the dog won't survive the anesthetic in her current state, so we have to wait and see.

I don't want her to lose an eye. I fear it may make finding her a home more difficult. No one likes a freak dog... but i will do what i have to do.

Her teeth are missing on one side. She can eat, but it leads me to believe she may have been hit by a car, or a person, which would explain her adrenaline-pumped dash across Emmarentia. After she stopped running she collapsed in a heap, barely able to prop herself up. We were worried her legs were damaged, but it's just malnutrition.

No-one can explain to me what a dog in this state was doing in my middle class suburb. I can only gather that she may have come from far away. A dog driven by pain and hunger can cover a lot of distance.

We took her home. The vet gave me a free collar and a lead and asked me to come back on Monday.

The bad eye

When we got home i first put her in the garage. I was still worried about her temperament and couldn't let her near my dogs as i didn't know how they would react to her.

here you can see how thin she is

I made her a bed, in which she slept all day. She was too weak to move much, just to eat once and to wee. I worked from home so i could keep feeding her. I put food right under her nose, as she couldn't get up much. She was a lot calmer around me and actually enjoyed human touch. I would stroke her head and she would fall asleep. i was to freaked out to stroke anywhere but her head, she was all bones and the feeling scared me.


Just ate :-)


I can touch her now and she likes it




Here she is sleeping like an angel. God knows what she must have been through. There is an air of pain around her that makes me cry, but she is just so sweet.

remember - as soon as she is better - she will be looking for a home.