Underdog Animal Rescue: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

Our grant money was used for the care of a sweet little dog named Aria. Aria was left for dead in a field with a bullet in her leg. Thankfully, she was found, and the finder contacted one of our foster families, who quickly stepped up to take her in. They honestly did not think she would make it through the first night. Miraculously, three months, a leg amputation and major dental work later, she is doing great as a three-legged dog!

By helping us cover the cost of Aria's care, this grant helped us save more than 350 dogs this year. The closure of animal shelters has meant that we've had to do all of the vetting ourselves that sometimes would be done by a shelter vet at a much lower cost. It's been a challenge to get all of the dogs we are intaking in for spay/neuter surgery, but we have done it, and it has been so rewarding!

How many pets did this grant help?

1

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Aria’s foster writes: “I’m going to try to do this without crying. Well, too much, anyway. Today was a hard one. Kelly Macauley Perry, the amazing woman who has fixed so, so many cats for me and has never asked for anything, called me. She said she had ladies trapping out in Bay Point and they came across a ‘sick puppy,’ the description by the kids who kindly showed these ladies the dog. Kelly needed someone to take this dog, so I said, of course, bring it over. The ladies scooped this dog up in a cat trap and brought it over. When the ladies went back to the neighborhood, they talked to the father of the children who alerted them to the dog. Story goes, the dog showed up ‘a few days ago’ in front of their house, and the daughter ‘put it behind the fence to keep it safe.’

“I have never in my life seen anything like this dog. To say she is a bag of bones is an understatement. Not only is there zero fat on this girl, she is so dehydrated that we couldn’t even get her skin pulled from her bones and her nails are so long that some have turned back into her pads.

“4/27: Aria saw the vet this afternoon. I am sure it was not fun for her. They clipped all of her nails. Two were embedded in her paws and infected. She is severely underweight. She currently weighs 5.5 lbs. It is estimated that she should weigh in the 12-15 lb. range. She has some expensive dental work on the horizon, but that can’t be done until she puts on some weight and gets a little healthier.

“5/10: Aria has finally gained some weight! She weighed in at a whopping 6.6 lbs.! She is still limping significantly on her front, right foot. Is that from the nail being embedded in her pad or does she have something actually wrong with her leg? Questions for the vet once she is at a weight where her little body can undergo the surgery to remove her rotten teeth and spay.

“5/24: She was spayed on the 19th and had her leg x-rayed. The news from the x-rays isn’t good. It has been decided that there is just too much damage to the leg to save it. I am heartbroken for her. She has been through so much and deserves so much better in her life. Whatever happened to her, we will never know. Is it a bullet, a pellet, whatever it is, shattered her joint. But, we will get her through this next hurdle. She will have the leg amputated and her nasty, painful teeth removed soon. Hopefully, once the painful leg is removed, she will be able to start healing her heart.”

Since then Aria has been doing amazing! She still has some recovery before we will adopt her out.