Senior Dog, Clancy, Shot & Left to Die, Needs Your Help
As sad stories go, this is one of the saddest. Shared with us by our friends One by One Animal Advocates (OBOAA) in Huntington, West Virginia, few are more disturbing than this. No stranger to extreme cases of animal abuse and neglect, OBOAA was contacted recently by a vet tech with the Proctorville Animal Clinic about a dog in such bad shape that there were initial questions regarding its survival prospects.
The vet tech, who lives on a rural side road, received a call on Saturday, June 25, 2023, from her sister-in-law, another vet tech, who first saw the helpless, bloodied animal dumped in a ditch as she traveled down the seldom-used lane. She couldn’t ignore the obviously injured pup, so she stopped to examine it, fearing the worst. Recognizing the severity of the situation, the two women made the decision to take him to the nearby Ohio clinic where they both worked, even though it was after hours.
Naming him Clancy, it was determined that this poor boy was at least 10 years old and suffering from multiple medical issues, which they promptly set out to remedy. For starters, Clancy’s eyes were in such bad shape that his lashes had caked with discharge to the point of nearly sealing shut, and one showed signs of a possible ulcer.
Clancy also had a bad ear infection and possibly a perforated eardrum. Then there was a flea infestation with a secondary skin infection resulting in hair loss. That’s not to mention the fact that he was anemic and severely dehydrated. When they found him, he was covered in flies at a level usually reserved for dead animals, not living, breathing creatures. But Clancy was nearly deceased when he was found panting in the weeds.
They immediately got him started on IV fluids, cleaned him up, began deworming him, and continued with basic care to assess the extent of his needs. At some point, they dialed up Heather Aulick of One by One to see if they could perhaps help. While most of Clancy’s ailments looked fixable at that point, and they had high hopes for his recovery, the poor shepherd wouldn’t eat.
They checked out his mouth and saw that he had tartar, decay, and a number of broken teeth that must have been incredibly painful to live with. After two days without food and due to his overall condition, it was decided that if he was still unable to take nourishment by Wednesday, they might have to concede defeat and be forced to let him go. The last thing they wanted was prolonged suffering, and they had no idea how long he’d been out there before he was rescued.
Thankfully, the following day, Clancy started to make tentative attempts at nibbling soft foods, but there was still clearly something wrong besides plaque and broken teeth. They needed to get weight on him so that they could start caring for his skin, and there was no time to waste. On top of that, it was discovered he had both Lyme and Ehrlichiosis, which are tick-borne diseases that needed addressing as soon as possible.
Knowing this, they scheduled a dental for the troubled canine at the first opportunity. Once Clancy was sedated, they put him on his back, and something horrifying happened: his jaw flopped open and became unhinged because it was broken! It was also discovered that the bottom of his tongue had three linear wounds. Perplexed, the staff were uncertain as to how they’d got there and wondered whether he’d been thrown from a moving vehicle.
While they cleaned many teeth and removed others, the skull X-rays led to the ghastly discovery that Clancy had been shot in the mouth and that the scoring on the underside of his tongue and damage to his jaw (with fragments still left behind) were all part of the carnage inflicted before the bullet exited his neck.
Since then, Clancy has been placed on a ketamine drip with the goal of keeping him subdued and as pain-free as possible until he heals. Heather shared with us that he’s back to eating and is — inch by inch — beginning to make a remarkable recovery. She added that Proctorville Animal Clinic is physically caring for him and spoiling him with attention and food.
“At this point, there’s no underlying medical condition that is not manageable. He’s on eye meds, and we’re monitoring his eardrum. We’ve also got him on Doxycycline for Lyme and Ehrlichiosis diseases. Lyme disease is known for creating pain, so he’s also on Gabapentin for that, as well as Galliprant for jaw pain.” In total, he’s on half a dozen prescription medications.
While Clancy is slowly chugging along, he has a long way to go before he’s well again. In the meantime, there’s more to be done. If you’d like to help in his recovery efforts, One by One could surely use your assistance.
To learn more about Clancy’s condition and/or to make a donation, you can keep tabs on his progress and contribute through OBOAA’s Facebook Fundraiser for Clancy.
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