Anatomy of Puppy Mill "Survivors", continued

This is also Shaggy.

Miraculously, their eyes were not matted shut- however, as you can see in this photo, it's been a LONG time since they had a haircut! They both reeked from years of soaking up their own waste. Their legs were tightly matted from being wet so often.

This is a closeup to show how long the hair was- in some areas, over 6 inches long, and all matted. The photos start to get gross from here, so be forewarned if you have a weak stomach!!

This is a closeup of Curly's back end. Note my hand in the upper left, holding his tail up. The darkened area you see under the tail is feces stuck to the hair, a big glob of it, actually. Curly's stomach area was also so matted that he was probably physically unable to breed- which might have been what saved him!

We shaved, then scrubbed, then shaved some more, to get rid of all of it.

So, this is what the pile of hair looked like when we were done shaving them both. I should have weighed it, but I can tell you- it was easily enough to make up another whole dog! It smelled SO bad I couldn't wait to get it into the garbage and out the door. The dogs went in the tub for a nice, long soak in deodorizing shampoo.

Check out Shaggy in his new "do"! See that pile of cotton swabs in the lower left corner? That's all the gunk I cleaned out of his ears. Sorry his face is blurry- he kept shaking his head (probably in disbelief!)

In spite of being obviously nervous about being handled so much, neither of these dogs offered to bite me once. They both stood like statues while I liberated them from all that filth.

Here's how Curly looked after his bath and haircut- MUCH better, I'd say! This is the pile of gunk that came out of his ears.

The boys settled in at HSWC, and soon had their blood test for Heartworm and various tick-borne diseases (which were thankfully, all negative). They had bloody urine for a few days after they arrived (we theorize this is from not having had enough to drink for a long time before we got them.) They were soon scheduled for their dentals and neuters, and not a moment too soon! As you can see, Curly's mouth definitely needed attention. Please note: we think he is only about 4 years old. The teeth of a puppy mill dog age prematurely due to diet and boredom (many of them chew on the wire of their cages). See how inflamed and receded his gums are? Ouch.

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What can I even SAY about this?? This is what poor Shaggy's mouth looked like before he went to the vet. The horrendous condition of his teeth caused extra gum tissue to grow- that's what all the pink blobs are. I'm not sure how he could even eat with this mouth. Maybe that's why he was so skinny. The few teeth he had left were all loose.

Here's Shaggy, being prepped for his dental at the vet's. Look at all that extra tissue in his mouth- he must have been in SO much pain. They had to extract every one of his teeth because they were in such poor condition, then all that extra tissue was also removed.

Sorry this photo is blurry- the camera tried to eat it. This is the surgery tray that now holds all the teeth that were extracted from Shaggy and Curly. I think the ones in the middle of the photo are the few that Shaggy had left. The bottom two rows are the teeth that Curly lost. He only has 11 left now.

The vet warned us they would be in a lot of pain for a few days, and it may be hard to get them to eat. They were put on pain meds, to make them more comfortable. Eating wasn't much of an issue though- they love canned food and went right for it, making it easy to get meds into them. I believe they had so much pain in their mouths for so long, this probably wasn't so bad- and a few days later, they really started to feel GOOD.

Thanks to HSWC, he is now learning the joys of walking outdoors, smelling the spring breezes, and how nice it is just to sit and be petted. He will need some remedial house-training, and a little patience with new situations- but some day, he will make someone a wonderul companion.

Curly is already in his new home. We hope to update this site with photos of him there, happily playing in the back yard with his new friend.