Hope

On 30 December 2005, an emaciated young dog, covered in weeping sores, was brought into the Emergency Vet Clinic downtown by a gentleman who had found her starving in an alleyway. She could still walk but could barely lift her head. There didn't seem to be much hope for her - no owner, nobody to pay the bill and nobody to take her home and care for her if she made it. But the staff at the Emergency Clinic decided to give her a chance. Instead of euthanising her, she was treated for her sores and her demodex and her infections. In two weeks she had put on 10 kg and her sores were all healed. She had made enormous progress and was out of immediate danger but she needed somewhere to continue her recovery and to regrow her hair! After a month at the Clinic, Hope (as we have called her) is now in a NASAP foster home. Her coat is coming back in and she is now fuzzy where she had been bald a couple of weeks earlier. Hope is settling down well and spent a quiet first night in her kennel. She is full of energy and loves to play. She is hardly more than a puppy, no more than a year old. She is bouncy and friendly and full of intelligence and love. Even after having her home with us for only a day, we can see why the folk at the Emergency Clinic could not bring themselves to put her to sleep. She has such a lot to offer. Hope will be on medication for many weeks while her coat grows back. We will keep you updated on Hope's progress.

Update 10 Feb: Hope is thriving in her foster home. Her hair is coming in thick and fast and she is a healthy weight and full of energy. She is due for a skin scraping in a week's time to see how the demodex is doing and she is still on her ivomec daily. But she has no sores and it looks as though her baldness is well behind her! Hope has shown that she enjoys playing with another dog and she plays quite rough so if she has a playmate at all, it will have to be a dog who enjoys playing in the same way. She has shown no aggression whatsoever towards any of the dogs we have met on our dogwalks. Hope has a wonderful temperament but is still very much a puppy at times and can be mouthy. She needs an owner who can keep this in check till she outgrows it and somebody who will give her the love and attention which she so enjoys. Hope is ready to be adopted if the right home comes along.