Adopting a dog means more than just feeding it and making sure it has a place it sleep; adoption means accepting that you are welcoming a living, breathing, and feeling pet into your family. For good.
So, when things get tough, people need to stand by the animals they adopted and be responsible.
An owner of three Shih Tzus, however, decided to give up on his dogs when things seemed a little rocky. He owned three pups, but neglected them to the point they had severely matted hair, terrible breath, overgrown nails, and a multitude of other problems.
Source: Spokane Humane Society / Facebook
Instead of helping his fur babies when they truly needed it, the man dropped them off at the Spokane Humane Society, hoping to put them down. The staff there was able to convince him to just surrender the animals so they could help them.
He agreed…and left.
Source: Spokane Humane Society / Facebook
After an examination, the Humane Society discovered the bundles of matted fur were three 11-year-old Shih Tzus. Knowing that these dogs must be suffering and in pain, staff at the organization went to work.
To start it off, the Humane Society began shaving off the dirty fur (and removed 13lbs in the process). Then, they addressed the overgrown nails and minor medical issues the dogs had.
Unfortunately, the dental treatments would take time (and money). But while money is being raised for them, the dogs are getting their bloodwork processed. It was difficult to tell how healthy these dogs were, given their appearances.
Source: Spokane Humane Society / Facebook
Their owner abandoned them — and wanted to kill him — because he claimed they would bite and were being aggressive. The poor pups most likely were just suffering under terrible conditions, and, because of the pain, were on edge.
Because, once they were cleaned up at the shelter, the dogs had surprisingly easy-going personalities.
Hopefully, these dogs will get a second chance at life. None of them deserved the neglect they suffered — and the threat of potential euthanasia!
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The owner of three severely matted dogs came to us over the weekend, asking to have the dogs euthanized because they would bite. Staff assessed the dogs and found three 11-year-old, surprisingly active Shih Tzus trapped under thick mats of tangled and decomposing fur. After a brief consultation the owner decided to surrender the dogs to us, and we went to work. The mats covered the dogs from wet licorice nose to wagging tail tip tearing at their skin every time they moved. Their nails were so long they curled like buck horns. All three had bad teeth – they were a smelly, miserable trio and quite possibly also in a lot of pain. The only way to deal with the hot, dirty, tangled threesome was a complete shave. Over several hours, staff and volunteers carefully removed more than 13 lbs (!!!) of fur.Then the dogs got a bath and obvious sores, cuts and smaller infections were treated. Now their blood work has been sent out, they are scheduled for dentals (which can bring myriad $$$ surprises) and two of them have lumps that may need to be removed depending on what the lab work shows. We knew we’d probably find some health issues under all that fur… But what we also found were three handsome – though slightly chubby – little dogs with big brown eyes and surprisingly easygoing personalities. No one bit anyone. They now get a second chance at a healthy senior life when they come up for adoption in a couple of weeks after all their medical issues have been take care of. Would you please consider making a donation toward the $3,500 medical bill we anticipate? These girls deserve it. And this is part of what we do: we take on what looks like hopeless cases and give them another chance at life – and we couldn’t continue to do that without your support.
Posted by Spokane Humane Society on Tuesday, January 8, 2019
