And Coco’s her name

This is Coco starting her new life. She has come a long way since a month ago when she was found by a SOS Animal Rescue volunteer in Spain.

The first time we saw some pictures they were really difficult to look at.  Her hair was completely matted and she was missing an ear.

Coco was found in terrible condition. She had a rope tied around her neck and could hardly walk as her claws are so long. They think she’s a Spanish Water dog cross, and estimated that she is only about 18 months.

SOS Animals, a rescue centre in Spain took her in and did everything they could to help Coco feel better.  They spent the first night cutting out masses of matted and infested fur.  She spent the night quietly but she was eating and drinking like she hadn’t for a while.

The next day they took her to the vet where she spent the day being examined and cleaned up! A lot of Coco’s fur was stuck in large clumps to her skin and made it difficult for the vet to examine Coco.  Thankfully the groomer was there and they decided a makeover was needed! Again Coco was so good throughout and was shorn, bathed and then examined. The vet couldn’t figure out how her ear was so badly damaged.  It was painfully infected and she keeps scratching it. The vet thinks there could be something in the ear!They did blood tests and found out she’s extremely anaemic. This is probably caused by the thousands of ticks they had to remove from her.  The vet had never seen so many ticks on one dog. In one patch of Coco’s body measuring 2cm by 2cm, they removed 15 ticks!

Her stomach was very swollen with all the rubbish she has had to eat to stay alive. They put her on antibiotics to keep any infections at bay. Due to her low blood count, they will have to wait till she’s well enough before they could operate on her ear.

Coco also tested positive for Leishmania. So back to the vet she went for a course of injections to boost her immune system.  And she will be doing that every 48 hours for the next month for her glucantime injections.

Through all this, Coco had stayed very alert and as she was constantly examining her body – wondering what’s going on all the changes.Coco is on a long journey to recovery.  Her skin, though healing, will take a long time to be all better. On the positive side, within a week, she had already gained a kilo heavier due to her very healthy appetite.  She walks on her lead, she’s great in the car and follows her foster mummy everywhere. She gets on well with the horses, dogs and cats that live at the stables where she is being fostered.  She is becoming more confident daily. When you go through such traumatic experiences together, I think the bond is never broken. That’s why Coco’s foster mummy decided she will stay with them forever.  🙂  Coco’s new life has begun.

And so this is another happy ending but so many more out there awaits their lucky turn.

May’s comment: Coco was a picture of total neglect. How can a domesticated animal get to that state? But thankfully someone found Coco and brought her to SOS Animals UK. That was the first time I had heard about them. I got in touch with them about Coco and learnt more about what they do as I followed Coco’s progress.

SOS Animals UK was initially set up to help the strays of Spain.

Every year millions of British citizens visit Spain, and many decide to live there permanently. Unfortunately, Spain has one of the largest stray populations of dogs & cats in Europe. Furthermore, horrific cases of animal cruelty have been extensively documented, specifically directed towards the working dogs. In Spain, it is not rare for the Podenco’s (pharaohound) and Galgo’s (greyhound) to be hung when they have finished their working life, or have their legs broken, among many other forms of barbarity that are practiced.

Neutering is not common in Spain for dog or cats and neither is vaccinations. Many dogs and cats are therefore left exposed to debilitating diseases which spread rampantly through the stray population. Huge quantities of dogs and cats are left to suffer and die alone, scared in the Spanish countryside. Often mum’s with pups are the worst to suffer.

To make matters worse the British citizens that have moved to Spain are responsible for half of the dogs dumped in some of the shelters on the Costa Del Sol. With the current economic situation, many British citizens are packing up their villas and moving back to the UK; forgetting their beloved pet, dumping them at the local shelter or just leaving them alone and abandoned outside their houses. Many of theses dogs find it very hard to adapt to shelter life after having the warmth and security of their own home and owner. Some of these dogs simply just give up, get very depressed, and their health quickly deteriorates. These dogs often pine for months waiting for their owner to come back. Inevitably, they never do.

You may think that helping Spanish Dogs should not be our concern in the UK but it is very much ‘our’ problem.

As a result we have set up SOS UK to help shelters like SOS Animals in Spain. SOS Animals in Spain and other animal welfare charities on the Costa del Sol are hugely under funded, under supported and inundated with dogs. Many of these dogs have been there for years, and are in danger of catching disease or developing psychological problems. With this in mind we concentrate our efforts on the ‘worst case’ animals; generally dogs that have little hope of finding a secure, loving home in Spain. To rescue, rehabilitate & re-home theses neglected animals is our aim.

We send volunteers, vets & vet students to Spain to help the shelters and to help us understand more about the problems and issues that a shelter has to face on a day-to-day basis. We also work with vets to help neuter the strays on the street, this is the best solution for controlling the problem of a stray population in most countries.

In addition to this we collect supplies, medication, food, and bedding and try to support the shelter as much as we can. Much of this is simply to publicise and show recognition for all the wonderful work that they are doing.

SOS Animals UK is a volunteer run, not for profit organisation helping stray and abandoned dogs find loving forever homes. We primarily work with our sister charity in Spain (Registered number: 4513) and dedicated foster carers to help with the plight of the stray dogs in Spain. Committed to supporting crucial neutering programmes and re-homing animals in desperate need, SOS Animals UK changes one animals’s life at a time.

PLEASE HELP US TO HELP THEM – THERE ARE SO MANY WAYS YOU CAN DO IT!

SOS Animals UK is a volunteer run, not for profit organisation helping stray and abandoned dogs find loving forever homes. They work primarily with their sister charity in Spain (Reg No: 4513) and dedicated foster carers to help with the plight of the stray dogs in Spain.