Surviving a life-threatening situation once is amazing, but three times? Downright miraculous!
That’s what volunteers at Mission Pawsible are saying about one of their recent rescues. When a tiny mixed-breed puppy named Lucy first arrived at their shelter, they weren’t sure she would make it through the night.
Lucy was found by a Good Samaritan at a building site in Bali. There were many dogs running around, but when they spotted the emaciated black pup with fishing line wrapped tightly around her snout, they feared the worst. The fact that her snout was bound confirmed their suspicions that she had been headed to a local dog meat market when she escaped somehow.
Veterinarians diagnosed Lucy with parvo, a potentially deadly canine virus, and gave her a 50 percent chance of survival. She stayed in the animal hospital for the next two weeks, and her rescuers said her mental health was almost worse than her physical ailments. She was a shell of a dog who huddled inside her crate and only came out to go to the bathroom.
“It was touch and go for a few days there, but after two weeks, Lucy finally started to show signs of recovery and was able to be moved into foster care,” Mission Pawsible said. “After only one day, she started acting strangely and this time she tested positive for distemper – as if she hadn’t been through enough already.”
This time, they really thought she wouldn’t pull through. Her immune system was weak and she was still “skin and bones” from all the trauma she’d endured. When she became too weak to eat, rescuers fed her organic bone broth by syringe to keep her strength up.
With plenty of love and determination, the strong little pup soon began to put on weight and regain some stamina.
“We still have a long way to go but we are hopeful she has turned the final corner to start healing properly physically and we can work on her mental health also,” the shelter wrote.
Lucy has been living with Prue, the founder of Mission Pawsible, and Prue’s other dogs. Slowly but surely, she has started to come out of her shell and trust humans for the first time in her life. After months of avoiding eye contact and shrinking away from people’s hands, Lucy finally discovered that not all humans are unsafe.
Not only that, but she also warmed up to her new dog friends. The first time she ever played like a regular puppy, Prue was so excited that she took video to share online.
“Today is the first time she has EVER played in our care. It’s been a grueling and heartbreaking journey but we (well Murphy) did it,” she wrote. “Today I finally feel we have turned that mammoth corner of trust.”
Mission Pawsible is currently raising funds to build The Healing Centre, a place where dogs like Lucy can recover from their trauma. We’re so grateful to them for helping Lucy overcome the odds not once, but three times!
