How to care for a rescued dog

We recently rescued a stray dog...at first I was hesitant about it -to be honest I was scared. He looked very sick, almost as if he was about to die...and even though I could not bare to see him suffering I convinced my self that all I could do (giving the circumstances), was to feed him and let him rest by the front gate -where he was laying.

But as the hours passed I could not stop thinking about him...was he cold? hungry? in pain?...

I tossed and turned all night thinking about him and wandering what to do.



By morning I knew...if he was still by my gate I was going to save him and help him find his "forever home".








Healing process

Up close he looked even skinnier...you could see every single rib bulging up under his skin. His neck was covered with ticks and the skin on his chest was crusty and falling apart.

It was heartbreaking and at moments I felt as if it was too much for me to handle but thanks to the support and help of some very good friends, little by little I was able to help him recover from such bad physical conditions.

I started feeding him with puppy dog food: rich in nutrients, fats and minerals he was missing and complemented it with a high-calorie food supplement.  We later switched him to a veterinary high calorie diet (for about two weeks) and are now feeding him regular large breed dog food formula from Royal Canin.

For the ticks I took two approaches: First to treat the skin with Scratchex Flea & Tick Shampoo and Adams Plus Flea & Tick Mist and second remove the ticks using tweezers to pull them out and alcohol to finally kill them. The whole process took me about five to six hours in total.

Hot Spot Medication was applied to the skin on his chest and because everyone kept telling me he had had mange I had Sardex ready to be applied when he had gained some weight (I did not wanted to keep putting him treatment after treatment while he was still weak) but after a visit to the vet and a scrape to confirm if he had mange or not it was determined that he did not have the condition and the scales on his skin were caused by a skin infection -a reaction to the ticks saliva. For this he recommended using Banixx.

Its been three weeks today since that morning and the only thing I regret is that I did not took him in earlier.

He still has to gain more weight,  get vaccinated and also be neutered but I am glad that I had the opportunity to meet and help such a wonderful being.

His name is Paco and his the new member of our family!