TW: Hurt Animal, Graphic Injuries
A couple days ago, Hugo and I came home to find a puppy curled up in front of the door.
We had just come from a day in Puerto Lopez, whale watching. Which was an amazing experience. 10/10. We had borrowed a car from Hugo’s friend (Franciso). He was dropping us off at our house and as we drove up, we saw a dog in front of our door. Someone said something about fate, and we all laughed. Getting down from the car. Franciso came closer to the puppy and whispered words to keep her calm. She let him pet her. Even though she was clearly scared, she didn’t move. We opened the door very gently and from that side, we could see almost like a hole in her body with maggots infesting the wound. Hugo went inside to see if we had anything we could carry her in. He grabbed a cardboard box and when I put it closer to her, she got up and started to walk away. Franciso was able to stop her from going further and we saw that on the ground was a pile of maggots and a dark stain of her blood. We grabbed an old towel from inside, I wrapped her gently with it and lifted her to put her inside the box. We then put her in the back of the car. It was at this point that the smell hit me. The smell of a dying animal or decaying, rotting flesh.
With all the windows open, we headed straight for the nearest open vet.
The puppy didn’t try to move from the box or leave. She poked her head out a little but she wasn’t trying to escape. As soon as we arrived, the vet was waiting for us because we had called on our way there. Hugo and I brought the box inside the vet and set it on the table. The vet peaked inside and went to get some reinforcements
The vet lifted her out of the box, adjusting her so that she had a good view of the injury. While this was happening, the puppy was looking at us and wagging her tail, *thump thump tump* against the table. The vet lifted her front leg and that was the first time we saw how bad it really was.
I have never seen anything like this in my life, the photos are too graphic to share so I’ve tried edited most of it out. I will try to be as vague but accurate as possible. There was a giant gash going from the front of her chest, under her leg, and out the side. It was absolutely infested with maggots. They basically ate a giant chunk out of her body. The smell was the worst part. The vet’s assistant measured her temperature and from the situation, the vet told us that she thought the dog could be saved. The temperature looked good, and the dog was alert and really seemed like she wanted to live. The vet said she would do everything she could with euthanasia as a last resort.
We left the dog there overnight and were kept updated by the vet. She said that the wound was one of the worst she had ever seen. Thankfully, the maggots did not reach any organs and had eaten through mostly skin and muscle. The vet had to remove all the maggots and clean out all of the rotten flesh. However, the giant gash/gaping hole in her body is too wide and deep for any stitches or any type of treatment available locally. The best bet is to use long stitches which will still leave the wound wide open but will hopefully allow for tissue to begin to grow back.
Hugo named her Corsair because that was what was on the cardboard box. This situation has really thrown our life plans around. We were already getting out house ready to invite a new puppy, a tripod collie mix who I already named Kody (like Kodak, because she’s a tripod). I was so excited for this new puppy, but now I only feel dread for the difficult challenge ahead trying to care for this dog which landed on our doorstep.
We visited again last night, and honestly, it was still horrifying.
The vet let us see her but we didn’t get too close because she seemed scared. However, the vet did say that the situation is much better. The puppy is drinking and eating, and she can walk a little (although I literally don’t understand how considering the giant gash in her body). The photo above, the yellow part I have drawn on top of the wound as is visible. It goes from there under her leg and up the side. It’s about an inch deep and like two inches wide. So imagine the bottom part of that yellow part is just air, it’s just completely gone.
The puppy is 4-5 months old, a girl. The vet thinks someone tied her up and threw her in a dumpster. She hurt herself trying to escape and her wound was quickly infected. Corsair is really trying to live. She was thumping her tail and looking at us with her puppy dog eyes. She never cried when she was being handled. She was so strong the whole time. It’s like she knew where to go to find people where to help her. Our upstairs neighbor, who shares the house with us, also loves dogs and keeps dog food in his car to feed street dogs.
If you’d like to contribute to her care, please let me know. So far, the cost is $280 (the vet gave us a discount). But further costs like medication, medical supplies, special food, later vet visits, etc. are going to add up. I’m also not working right now, neither is Hugo. While I do have savings to cover the expenses, I want to focus on helping the puppy and not worrying about the cost associated. PayPal is easiest for me (@dorouu) so I can keep track of everyone’s donations and post all the receipts and such for accountability.
Thank you for reading and I will keep you all updated. <3