Another super senior saved by BARNI!!!
Here is the urgent email that we received from a volunteer at the South Los Angeles Shelter:
"As I passed by all the cages, I stopped short when I got to this senior Beagle/Basset X. There he lay, wet and dirty and huge. He lay with the saddest, most hopeless look on his face, as though he were already dead. He had thick goop caked underneath his eyes, not because there was anything wrong with them, but because never in his whole neglected life had anyone tenderly cleaned them.
As soon as I saw his obese body, I knew that he was a tied-up outside dog. Sure enough, when I asked what his history was, he was an owner surrender. The owner said on his relinquishment form that he was "an outside only dog." They had had him for five years [five years! How could they sleep after dumping this dog to end his life at the shelter]. They said that he was "good with children."
I knew I had to take him outside to smell the grass, as it might be his last time, maybe only time he had ever been walked. After a few tentative steps, I knew that it would take all day before we got outside. So I put him on a cart, got Laura and we went outside. What a trooper this little guy was. He just waddled as well as he could, clearly delighted at the new smells. When I tenderly cleaned the goop from under his eyes, he just stopped and had the most content look on his face, as though he were thanking me for the kindness.
Laura and I bathed him. He just loved it; as the years of filth and neglect washed off his body he just looked like he could stay in the tub forever. As the dirt and hair came off him he was so happy. He looked tenderly from Laura to me, clearly knowing that he was being taken care of, probably for the first time in his life. I hope that he does not die in the shelter, a sad life with a sadder ending. "
BARNI didn't waste any time. Kerri called the shelter to make sure we had a hold on him and Devon ran over the next day and picked this guy up. Devon took him home and gave him a nice warm bath! As it turns out, Sleepy Mitch probably isn't a basset at all and is just a morbidly obese beagle. He will need a special diet that is restrictive while still giving him the nutrition he needs to make up for years of neglect as a yard dog.
Won't you help us to give this special senior citizen a second chance at life?