Chase, Haagen Dazs, and Klondike are 4-month-old Pit Bulls who have spent most of those short lives very, very sick.
So much so that their former owner — Brenda Bullock, of Washington, D.C. — has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty for not getting them treated.
Said Lisa LaFontaine, president and CEO of the Washington Humane Society/Washington Animal Rescue League:
By the age of four months, Chase and his two siblings had experienced more suffering than any living being should be subjected to in a lifetime. Cruelty to animals in any form can never be tolerated and the people of our community should know that we will relentlessly pursue those that commit these crimes.
When the dogs were given up to animal control officers in mid-April, they were brought to an emergency veterinarian for checkups, and documentation relating to a law enforcement investigation.
All three dogs were found to be suffering from severe mange — a preventable, treatable condition.
Chase was worse than the others. On top of the mange, his skin was badly infected, he was emaciated, had low blood sugar, low body temperature, and low blood protein. He was anemic and couldn’t walk without help.
“Chase was initially given a poor prognosis for survival, as the anemia and skin infections resulted in the puppy becoming septic, which required a full blood transfusion to treat,” WHS/WARL said in a news release.
Things have vastly improved for this crew in the weeks since. Haagen Dazs has been adopted, and Klondike is in a foster home.
WHS/WARL spokesperson Matt Williams tells BarkPost “they have mostly recovered.”
Chase is on the mend, as well. (With a lot of expensive assistance — the vet bills for Chase and his siblings are more than $9,000 so far. Here’s where to contribute, if you’d like to help.)
He was in the hospital for 12 days. Now Chase is in a foster home with folks who have experience helping very sick puppies — so that hopefully he will have a good, long life, making these first terrible months seem like a blip, an anomaly.
And that broken little body of his is trying so hard to get better.
Says Williams:
Chase is still recovering and will be for some time due to a compromised immune system. This will be a long recovery process but he is in good hands.
Featured image via Washington Humane Society
