how we helped Matty

Meet Matty (appropriately named) – he was brought into kennels as a stray. His coat was in a shocking state, and his ears were clogged. His under side and the back of his legs were completely solid and his tail had been stuck to his back end, making toileting obviously difficult.

The kennel owner contacted Second Chances and our volunteer, Lesley, went to visit him. He was very stressed, as he couldn’t understand why he was no longer in the place he knew, even though it can’t have been a happy place for him.

As no one came forward to claim him, Second Chances stepped in. Lesley took Matty to the vet, where he was sedated and, after nearly 2 hours of shaving, combing and cleaning his ears, he emerged from the mess like a big friendly lion!

He has a bad ear infection and several cysts on his body, one of which has burst and left to decay, but unexpectedly, despite having red, sore patches where the matted hair had been pulling at him and dry skin all over, he looked far better than Lesley feared. He was also given his 1^st vaccination and a course of worming tablets.

Then a bath, as he was rather fragrant! Thankfully, this was over quickly, due to the lack of hair, and drying was easy too. As per usual, Lesley ended up wetter than Matty, but the way he smelled, made it all worthwhile! Matty was returned to his kennel to settle for the night and, even after all he had been through and still slightly groggy from the sedation, he turned and licked Lesley’s face. No words needed.

This story has a happy ending, as Matty has a family waiting and ready to love him. They have an older girl who they adopted from us several years ago; they have already met, and get on well. Good luck beautiful boy, be happy. His name is now Zeus.

Thanks Lesley for a job well done…

Zeus will require ongoing medical care and we seek your support to help us to continue our work with Zeus and other dogs like him.