Riona has an incredible story. She went through unbelievable cruelty at the hands of her previous owner who doused her with gas and set her on fire. But thankfully there are good hoomans who saved her.
Riona ran screaming down the road. Neighbours ran after her trying to put out the fire with a water hose or anything they could find to pour water on her.
The Memphis Police was called and Animal Control took her to an emergency vet. Amazingly she withstood the burns and the excruciating pain. A couple of days later, she ended up at Bluff City Veterinary Specialists – where they have been treating her burns.
Singed and burns on 60% of her body, she was bandaged to help the wounds heal. We’ve watched on her Instagram account as her bandages came off bit by bit.
At first she didn’t trust anyone. She hesitated when anyone came close but through daily feeding and constant faces that did right by her, she learnt to trust.
She is doing well amazed at how she can still love life and have learnt to trust hoomans, grateful to all who have helped her recover.
She still has ways to go but she is safe and very much loved by everyone around her.
Our blog posts are usually always based on love for our dogs. Though this is a horror story to begin with, it also shows the good side of humanity.
Can we mention how much we love the artwork on Riona’s bandages?
As much as we love the artwork on her bandages – we love seeing Riona emerge from all of that.
May’s comment: We have been following Riona’s story on Instagram for awhile now. At first aghast at the story of extreme human cruelty, we followed the arrest of the former owner, who is still in jail on a $150,000 bond while he awaits trial with the grand jury.
Her case was reported by animal control and the Memphis police department upon the initial call when she was found on fire. They did arrest her former owner Quishon Brown who is still in jail on a $150,000 bond while he awaits trial with the grand jury.
But now with Justice for Riona done, we focused on her getting healed from her burns. We want to share her story to a wider audience to help with Riona’s ongoing medical needs to be healed of her injuries. I reached out to Mallory, the vet nurse who is fostering Riona to ask her to tell the story.
Riona was seen by neighbors running down the street on fire on June 20, 2022. One neighbor heard her screaming from inside his house and ran outside trying to put the fire out with a water hose. Another neighbor was outside cleaning out the drawers from her refrigerator and actually used one of the drawers to scoop water out of her pool and pour it on her to put the fire out. The police department and animal control was called and animal control picked up Riona and took her to a local emergency clinic. The clinic decided that she was stable enough to go to the shelter.
On June 22, I received a text from a friend at the shelter about a dog with a large wound on her back. I talked to the rescue director with Tails of Hope Dog Rescue, and we agreed to take her. When I went to pick her up, another rescue had already pulled her. A few hours later when I was at work, my friend texted me again about this dog (Riona) who was presumed to have been hit by a car. There was some kind of mix up with her paperwork when she came to the shelter and her condition had not been added to her file. We agreed to take her and a volunteer picked her up and brought her to my work, Bluff City Veterinary Specialists.
Upon arrival, it became immediately clear to all of us that she had not been hit by a car. All you could smell was gas and burned hair. You could feel the singed hair on her head and back and all of her whiskers had burned off. We immediately sedated her and performed radiographs and started her on IV fluids. We spent the next two hours shaving her hair and cleaning her wounds.
She was in a full body bandage that was changed 1-2 times a day for the next few weeks. She was also on IV pain meds with 24 hour care. Over the next few weeks, the burns were determined to be 4th degree burns which means they will need surgical repair with burns covering over 60% of her body. She also lost half of her left ear.
The first surgery she had was to close the burn around her left eye and on the left side of her face. This was our first surgery because we really wanted her not to have to have her face bandaged anymore.
This surgery was successful and she had second surgery to close the burn on her left ear and some of the smaller burns on the right side of her body.
She had the next surgery to close some of the other burns on the top of her left rear leg. We realized that she would need skin grafts to cover the burns on her extremities, but she did not have enough “good” skin to cover the burns.
We then placed a tissue expander on the right side of her abdomen and close the burns on the left side of her abdomen. This is similar to a breast implant and was slowly filled with saline over the next few weeks.
The next surgery that she had was to use the skin from the tissue expander to place a mesh graft on the back of her left rear leg.
Weeks later, she had a thoracodorsal flap placed to cover the burns on the left front leg/armpit area. This is where you take the skin from her left shoulder area and flap it around to cover the burn. She is on the mend. We have a three week recovery from the skin flap then we can close the final burn on her back leg and we will spay her at that time.
News of Riona spread after some news crews reached out shortly after she arrived at the vets. We also started a TikTok account for her to get her story out there so that people can see what happens to these innocent animals.
Tails of Hope Dog Rescue will be covering the entire expense for Riona. This is thanks to the many donations that have come in from very generous supporters. There is still a large portion of her medical bills that are not paid yet. If you can help towards Riona’s recovery, this is where you can help towards her recovery.
Tomorrow, Riona will make her special appearance at an event to help raise money for Tails of Hope in Memphis, TN.
You can also donate via: Venmo @tailsofhopedogrescue or Paypal tailsofhopedr@yahoo.com
Donations can also be called in directly to Bluff City Veterinary Specialists where she is being treated: +1-901-779-6280
Riona is currently fostered by Mallory. If you have any questions about adoption, you can contact Mallory through Riona’s Instagram account – @Justice4Riona.
She has come a long way and all the love and care by Bluff City Veterinary Specialist will help her heal physically and we hope through love of those around her, that she will live the rest of her life with a peace of mind.
