Sunday, October 12, 2008

Definitely not a Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Alternately titled "Not Just on Animal Planet Cop Shows"

I doubt he could have made it to my house, so the Universe had him cross in front of my car several blocks from home. I thought Banjo was in bad shape physically, but holy hell, he didn't even compare to this guy.

The pictures are horrible because I was concentrating on him, not the camera. But you'll get the idea, sadly.

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The smaller eye is almost totally white and terribly sunken. The other eye looks to be swollen beyond even the normal Chihuahua bug-eyes, but I admit the contrast between the two makes it hard to tell. He is clearly almost totally blind.

His ears have a terrible skin condition, and his inner ears are difficult to view. He responds to no noise at all; I think he's deaf.

He's missing most of his teeth and the ones remaining are in bad shape. That, combined with the grey on his muzzle lead me to think he's an old man. When I brought him home, I hoped that his age would explain his emaciation and that perhaps he was refusing to eat or something.

But, no. After dabbing food on his nose a few times, he began licking juice off my fingers, then suddenly seemed to realize that this was FOOD. There was nothing else in the world to him as this little starving guy ate his fill.

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See how skinny he is? His back hips don't seem to work well, and his left leg is injured. His over-long nails speak to his neglect as well. My hope that he's merely an escaped elderly dog (can you say denial?) has flown away.
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Chihuahuas are small, but emaciated Chihuahuas are even smaller. This is NOT a large cat.
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I've seen a lot, but I'm just horrified. Did I mention I can even see every little bone in his tail? Am I the only one in tears?





I bought a scratch lottery ticket today for the first time in ages (no, not quite the non-sequiter it appears to be) and my $1 ticket won me $50. I'll be using it to take this old little guy to the vet tomorrow.

6 comments:

  1. OMG poor boy he reminds me of what henry could look like if he was stuck on his own :( Sending him light. HA about the lottery ticket I got a tip today and thought about getting one today and then had a feeling that I wasn't the one to win today but that it was someone I knew, go universe ;)

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  2. Oh, bless his heart. :( I know you'll take good care of him. I spent the last three days taking care of a chihuahua for a friend. They're such sweet dogs.

    ((((hug)))) to you and the pup.

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  3. Oh, bless his heart. Poor little guy. How can people be so awful? Thank you for helping him.

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  4. Poor baby. I will be curious to hear how old the vet thinks he is. I hate to think someone had a dog that long, treated it badly, then just cast him aside. Poor guy.

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  5. OMG- that poor thing! I am bawling, you are such an angel for him . Best wishes in his care- omg, I feel so terrible- how could he get that neglected. poor, poor thing.
    (((hugs)))

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