It's all to easy to get depressed when faced with some of the sad stories of abandoned dogs I get sent to me for the site. But here's one that while not exactly a happy ending (yet) is moving in the right direction.
I've been following the progress of a little dog called Ginger. She was found tied to a bin, near Naples, left by some heartless person. She was blind, starving, with her ribs sticking out, with swollen lymph nodes and a swollen stomach. There was a chain collar practically strangling her. Here is a picture of how she was found.
I phoned up to find out more about her and found out that she had been poisoned, which had caused her to lose her sight. She was being cared for in Campania by an association called Movimento Animalista di Aversa and they had taken her straight to the vet. She seemed to be doing OK but they were worrried about the lymph nodes. They also said that she was not as old as she appeared and was probably only about two.
They sent me a close up photo and you can see how terrible she looks and
how red her poor eyes are. These volunteers are so marvellous, they
arranged for her to see a veterinary eye specialist and he said that the
blindness may be reversible. They did some more tests and
found out that she had an aggressive form of lymphatic cancer and her
prognosis was very poor. They were going to try chemotherapy, although
in her weakened state, it was a risk, but the only hope she had. I have to say, that although I had printed out her photo and was trying to do a bit of healing on her, things looked pretty bleak.
Well, that was a month ago and baby, look at her now! Apparently the chemo went very well and she is now in remission. She looks a completely different dog, doesn't she? She is not out of the woods yet, the cancer could return, but if you compare the earlier photos to this one you can see just how well she is doing. Once they are convinced she is stable then she will be up for adoption. I'm not sure if she is still blind, I will find out and let you know. But it just shows you should never give up.
Brava Ginger! An inspiration to us all!
* Update – she is still blind, but as they say: "that is the least of her problems."