Skinny, balding and completely alone.
This “werewolf” stood by the side of the road for several months. His skin was hard and scaly, his tail was pointy and broken. What was left of his black fur was tattered and stood straight up on his neck.
The dog probably hadn’t eaten a proper meal in weeks and he could barely walk.
Nobody knew anything about the strange creature except that he had been hanging around an orchard in Madera Ranchos, California for a long time.
And nobody dared to approach the animal, which looked scary and dangerous.
People called the poor dog “Werewolf” because they simply didn’t know what kind of animal he was. They were too afraid to get close enough to find out.
Then at the end of March, a passerby saw him and wrote a quick post about him on Facebook from her car.
The woman then waited near the dog until someone arrived to help. And it wasn’t long before another animal hero, Megan Bowe, was on the scene.
“I was about ready to cry when I saw how bad off he was,” Megan Bowe, founder of Bowe’s Adoptable Rescued Pup, tells The Dodo. “He was really on his last leg. He was depressed and could barely even stand up.”
Megan immediately realized what this “werewolf” really was: a very sick and neglected German shepherd mix.
She named him “King.” Then, she put him in her car and drove him to an emergency veterinary clinic.
King seemed relieved to finally get help, and he willingly went with Megan.
The veterinarian discovered that King suffered from a variety of diseases and injuries. But his most serious conditions were his scabies, a broken pelvis and a broken tail.
Although he looked quite old, King was only 1 year old.
“My vet thinks he got hit by a car, and that would explain how his tail was so messed up, too,” Megan Bowe says. “That injury happened months ago, because by the time I got him it had already started to heal incorrectly. And with such a damaged pelvis, he wasn’t able to get around very far on his own to look for food so he was extremely skinny and dehydrated.”
Because his diseases were contagious, Megan set up a quarantine area in her garage so King could heal without infecting the other animals she took care of.
She started King on small amounts of food and gradually increased the portions to help him regain his weight and strength at a proper pace.
King needed all the strength he could get before his pelvis and tail were operated on.
Even though the was weak and injured, it was clear that he was grateful.
”He’s a super loving dog,” Megan says.
When Megan sits down, King leans his head on her like he wants to give her a hug.
“He has been so calm and relaxed through everything,” Megan says.
About a month into his treatment, King’s condition began to improve. His mange disappeared and he regained his strength.
A few weeks ago, he was finally well enough to have surgery on his pelvis and tail.
And the operations were successful!
Now, King goes for walks daily to strengthen his leg, on orders from his vet.
By the end of the month, King will visit the veterinarian again to see how he is healing and to have his stitches removed. Once he’s recovered from the first operations, he might need his other hip operated on, too.
It’s been a long journet for King, but all his progress is making the situation look much brighter than it was a few months ago.
Today, there’s a big difference between King and the scary “werewolf” that people were afraid of.
According to Megan, King will be fully recovered in a few months. Then, he’ll be available for adoption.
Until then, King enjoys everything about his new life — including eating doggie ice cream, going for walks and riding in the car with the windows rolled down!
“He is happier than ever now,” Megan says.
She can’t understand how people could let him stand by the side of the road, sick and malnourished.
“It’s hard to think that all those cars passed him by and never stopped. No one wanted to bring him home or help him because he looked so bad… But all it took was one person,” Megan says.
Sometimes the difference between a coward and a hero is just one step.
Thanks to Megan and all the other animal lovers out there who refuse to look the other way when animals are mistreated or neglected. Now, King will have a good life —something that every dog deserves!
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