Agnes

Agnes arrived as a stray at a shelter in just terrible condition.  After a week of trying to treat, staff asked ODH to take her and we immediately took her in.  Thanks to dedicated transport volunteers she arrived in our home and we did our very best.  Agnes was very very thin, missing most of the hair on her back half with ugly deep wounds from chewing on herself that had become very infected – most likely getting into her system. The rest of her skin was very damaged, her nails were extremely long, she had untreated “dry eye” and a dried out third eyelid that had been exposed too long.    She had a big mass on the side of her face, on one ankle, and many on her mammary glands – of course she’d obviously had many puppies.    Both her knees had been long damaged so she walked stiffly and bow-legged.   And worse, she was in mid-stage kidney failure and very anemic.

And with all this torment, all Agnes wanted was to be in the house, close to her people – despite being terrified at a human with anything in their hand.  An incredibly forgiving dog.   She was initially afraid of treats but changed her mind quickly, ate well at first, loved trotting around the big pasture, and really liked being stroked.

We treated all these things as aggressively as possible but she had caught kennel cough at the shelter and that seemed to be the last straw.  By day 5 she wasn’t excited about eating, her lungs sounded bad – two antibiotics didn’t do the trick. By day 7 she was miserable and not eating at all, and the next morning she just curled into a ball and shivered.  It was time to say goodbye, she was ready, and we cried for her.

Thanks to all who wanted to help her – we did our best.  She had love and as much comfort as we could, and she loved us back. Please, in her memory, keep an eye for dogs who are being so badly neglected and see if there is any way to help before it’s too late.