It’s easy to love and care for an adorable puppy or dog, but would you be so willing to open your door to one that wasn’t cute?
One cold night, a man heard a noise on his front porch. He opened the door and saw a hairless dog freezing in the snow. It was clearly not well, and although the dog wasn’t the least bit cute, he took it in and helped make it warm.
A spokesperson for the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA wrote on Facebook:
“It appeared that she had been dumped by the roadside and abandoned. It was a frigid night, and it was assumed she came to the door looking for food and warmth.”
The man couldn’t keep the dog, so he called the police, who called the shelter to come pick her up.
Ron Perez, president of the Columbia-Greene Humane Society/SPCA, described the condition of the dog:
“She was in bad shape. She had some open lacerations on her face and neck and was pretty much devoid of any hair. It was sad. It’s always sad to see them like this.”
After the dog arrived at the shelter, she was checked by a vet and they discovered that she was suffering from demodectic mange. It’s a condition where mites bury under the skin and cause the dog’s fur to fall out. The more the dog scratches, the more the skin becomes infected and the more hair falls out.
If left untreated, it can get out of hand and become severe.
According to VCA Hospitals,
“Mange is a parasitic skin disease caused by microscopic mites. Two different mange mites cause skin disease in dogs. One lives just under the surface of the skin, while the other resides deep in the hair follicles. Although both mites share similar characteristics, there are also important differences. It is important not to confuse the two types of mange because they have different causes, treatments, and prognoses.”
They named the dog Penny and began treating her.
Once the mites were killed, Penny stopped scratching. This stopped the bleeding, helped reduce the infections, and allowed her skin to heal properly. It didn’t take long before she was a normal dog again.
Perez said:
“Within one week, she looked like a different dog. The vet was pretty impressed with her recovery.”
Just a few weeks more, and she was starting to look much better.
Her mange was completely gone, and she was starting to grow back some of her hair. Of course, some of her hair won’t be able to grow back and she will always have some bald spots.
Penny is healthy, though, and that’s the most important thing.
Had the stranger not helped her or the shelter not treated her, she probably wouldn’t have made it through very many cold nights.
Perez added:
“She’s a real fighter and very resilient. Her stress levels are clearly much lower now, because she’s interacting with people and she has proper food and is sleeping correctly.”
The police were able to track down the person who reportedly abandoned Penny. Paul C. Bull was arrested on animal cruelty charges, and he could face $1,000 fine and jail time if convicted.
Penny has since been adopted and will live happily ever after with a family that loves her.
Perez said:
“We got a lot of applications to adopt her. But these two individuals are fantastic pet owners. They took it slowly and came and visited with her a couple times a week. They brought their dogs in, and everyone got along fabulously. I’d like to think this will be the last home she’ll ever go to.”
Penny deserves to be happy and get the care she needs. Hopefully, there are only good things in her future.
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