THE RESILIENCE AND GRIT OF SRI LANKAN STREET DOGS OFTEN LEADS TO MIRACULOUS TRANSFORMATIONS
We like to think this has something to do with the veterinary care they receive at WECare but probably not..! We admit around 10 trauma cases per week into the hospital and are thrilled to say we have thousands of success stories to tell. Some are a bit gruesome but we think that as long as it is followed by a happy ending then the plight of street dogs should be something we are all made aware of. Here are just a few super happy endings…
TROY AND HIS MAGGOTS
We first met Troy in June 2018 when Janey spotted him charging through our local village, head down, on a mission to get somewhere. She didn't recognise him as a local dog so was doing a bit of curtain-twitching staring when she realised he was in desperate need of help...
JUST IN TIME
Troy had a HUGE maggot wound behind his left ear, with pockets extending all the way down to his shoulder. At this point we had no idea of knowing how deep the maggot wound was and as it was so close to sensitive structures (inner ear and brain!) we were really fearing the worst. We picked him up, whisked him back to the hospital and removed THOUSANDS of maggots! We breathed a massive sigh of relief when we realised the maggots had stopped just short of the disaster zones and then we set about trying to patch up the gaping hole left in Troy's head! Fat forward a few weeks full of dressings, snuggles (he LOVES a cuddle) and a little stitch up and Troy was ready to go home!
DOBBY AND HIS LUMPY MATE
Dobby ended up at WECare after we were alerted to his condition by a kind local. He had been taking care of Dobby in his village around 25km from the hospital but didn't realise there was help available until someone spilled the beans about WECare...
HI DOBBY
We set out to pick up Dobby and when we got to him, even having seen everything we have seen, we were pretty shocked- how had this poor boy survived like this?! We couldn't work out on the roadside whether he had a viable eye under the mass, or whether anything was actually surgically possible, but we knew we had to get him to safety. We took him back to WECare and the vet team set about assessing the severity of Dobby's situation. After some discussion (and trepidation) we decided to attempt surgery, relying on the amazing healing capabilities of the body to help us with the gaping hole that would be left after removal. Thankfully, after one of the more tricky surgeries we have done, we managed to remove the mass, reconstruct his eyelids and allow Dobby to see out of his right eye for the first time in a while! He pretty chuffed with himself and was back with his guardian before we knew it!
LEXY BOY
We were informed of Lex's condition by a Colombo-based charity who asked if we could assist as he was in our area. We headed straight out to find this giant donkey, and it wasn't hard to spot him kicking around on the streets of Matara..
HAIRLESS 'LITTLE' LEX
Lex is a Doberman. Not that you would have recognised that when he was kicking around on the city streets as a baldy seal! Street dogs in Sri Lanka are crossbreed dogs that have grown up on the streets, usually with generations before them, STRAY dogs are a totally different entity. Lex was a stray- a dog that had been bought as a pet then dumped on the street when the owners couldn't be bothered with him anymore. This is a problem seen worldwide, however it is a little bit of a shock when you see it in Sri Lanka as we get so used to seeing our Sri Lankan doggies! Lex had severe mange (mites living in the hair follicles) which we fixed up in 6 weeks and rehomed him with a beautiful family where he could run amuck, just as he became accustomed to in the WECare garden! He had NO idea he wasn't a Sri Lankan dog. Or a puppy as a matter of fact!
BURNT BROWNY
Browny was one of our patients in our early hospital days, being brought to us by her owners who informed us that their neighbours had poured boiling water on Browny. She had 30% burns and the added bonus of a maggot infestation..
JUST IN TIME
Browny was a 16 week old pup when we met her and we couldn't believe she was still standing, let alone had enough energy to wag her tail at us and scoff a bowl of food on admit! Ever the trooper, Browny was with us for almost 3 months, as she went through an intense recovery process, first to remove the maggots then to sort out her wound. The problem was that, as she grew, so did the wound so we were constantly playing catch up. Once she was patched up, we called her owners to come and collect her but they didn't answer the phone. Browny became a WECare dog and got spoilt rotten, getting massaged with Bio-Oil every day! Then one day, along came her guardian angel and Browny was adopted into a loving forever home.. and her new owner happened to be a massage therapist so she hasn't lost her favourite part of the day!
ROADIE THE TOADIE
Roadie was found by an expat up in the Hill Country, who drove Roadie almost 7 hours to receive treatment at WECare. He had been assessed at vets in the area but they were reluctant to treat due to the severity of Roadie's condition...
WHERE TO START
Roadie had small skin tumours all over his body, a penile TVT and then this stonking mass on his face which was causing so much pressure that it was making his eyes bleed. On assessment, we discovered this was a sexually transmitted tumour, or TVT. These tumours are spread via sex usually, however they can also develop after direct contact with a tumour or by breathing it in; which is what Roadie must have done. The tumours normally present on the genitals but Roadie must have had his head somewhere it didn't belong and it resulted in a nasal and frontal sinus TVT. After 6 weeks of chemotherapy in the hospital, he was ready to be picked up and head back to the beautiful scenery in the hills!
STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE TRANSFORMATIONS
These are just a few of the cases we see but we would love to keep you updated on all of the other success stories. It is your support that makes all of this possible and we can’t thank you enough! Follow us on social or sign up for our newsletter now to see more miraculous recoveries!
