My heart broke today when I found a stray puppy wandering around the streets downtown. He was obviously neglected and mistreated. I stooped down as he slowly made his way to my open hand, sniffing to make sure I was safe. I petted him and saw that his entire body was matted down with fur, encrusted with red Georgia clay so you couldn’t even tell the colour of his hair. I brought him inside the Pine Mountain Loft & Gallery where the owner and I phoned the number on his collar. It was to a clinic where he hadn’t seen the vet in over a year. All they knew was his breed, a schitzu. No age. No current shots or vaccinations. He is inquisitive as he roams his new surroundings, although still cautious. He hungrily eats the treats we have for him before I drive him into town, to the Animal Emergency Centre. There, it was determined that he was between two and three years of age and male. They weren’t even able to determine his sex right away because of all the mattes and knots.
He teeth are in good condition with no major damage. His entire body was covered in mattes as large as my hand. He could barely move as he struggled to lay down. He sat well-behaved while the doctor drew blood and administered his shots. I think he did better than I did! The doctor and his staff are keeping him overnight so he can have a flea bath. Unfortunately, they will be shaving him completely as it would be impossible to cut through the caked on mud with just clippers. Since he doesn’t answer to anything, I’ve named him Ludo, after the lovable snaggletooth creature in Labyrinth. (It was a toss-up between that and Wicket since he kinda looks like an ewok.) Here we are in the vet’s office before I laid him down to take a much needed nap:
I hope he enjoyed his bath earlier tonight and is finally able to get a peaceful night’s rest away from the storms we’ve been having. I’ll have an update when I pick him up tomorrow.
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