When advertising executive Fred Barnard once wrote a “picture is worth a thousand words,” he likely had no idea how true those words would ring out and visually describe the pain a small dog had to live through or how long he had to have been ignored and neglected to be crying out for help.
Mateo’s first rescuers found him on Wednesday at a Houston area park and brought him to a veterinarian clinic where ThisIsHouston was called on to help. The Good Samaritans who found the senior pooch donated $200 toward his care. No one knows where he came from or what caused his injuries, although the egregious neglect he has lived through has been heartbreaking to everyone involved in this miraculous rescue endeavor.
“We knew something awful was going on with Mateo, but we weren’t expecting this. Our hearts are broken thinking about the excruciating pain he’s been in for weeks – maybe even months. He was full of fleas and had maggots all over his body, even in his ears, butt, and prepuce. He had to live with these bugs crawling all over him and he wasn’t able to do anything about it.”
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Mateo was cold when he arrived at Vergi 24/7; his body temperature was 90. He was immediately placed on heat support, IV fluids and IV antibiotics. He weighed barely 8.3 pounds. The matting covering his his tiny body contributed to this weight, but beneath the tangles and the filth, his front paw had completely disintegrated; for months all he knew was pain. His wound was flushed, and he will need his arm amputated.
His bloodwork showed raging infections and hookworms. He has a cataract in his left eye and a partial one in his right eye. His X-rays reveal a herniation to his lumbar area, rendering his back hunched over. He is not able to walk, but has since been made comfortable.
On Thursday afternoon, Mateo was transferred to Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists for further care. In addition to the injuries on his front left leg, there is also a 2.7 centimeter metallic wire stuck in his right forearm which will also need to be surgically removed.
“There is moderate to severe soft tissue swelling of the left forearm that extends to the metacarpus (the group of five bones of the hand between the wrist (carpus) and the fingers). Approximately 50% of his left fourth digit is absent and the distal margin is smooth and sharply defined. Given the sharp margins, traumatic amputation is considered most likely, however a resorptive process cannot be completely excluded. Secondary soft tissue swelling, rule out sterile versus septic, and something like cancer is less likely. Mateo’s PCV also dropped from 31% to 20% which is a pretty big drop. IV fluids can bring the PCV down but that much is concerning…”
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Updates to follow.
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