Special needs strays – happy endings

Hope for Romanian Strays often has to step in the rescue and save injured and abused strays.  Our team of volunteers on the ground will never walk by an injured animal and just leave it to die alone in pain.  Often we come across this poor animals by the side of the road and at other times we get calls from locals who know we will help.  We have numerous examples of these, such as Mishu the dog found with head trauma in a coma by the side of the road, to Allegra, one of the rare survivors of this summer’s mass poisoning of street dogs.  We always take these poor souls into our care, take them to the vets and we thanks to generous donations we pay for their medical care.Amongst some of these rescues we also then find injured animals that need more than just nursing back to health but also require ongoing treatment and special care.  Again we do not abandon them just because they will be more work or effort, or because they will require more financial support.  We stand by these dogs too and do all we can to help them, but then also to find them a forever home, with people who can provide them with the ongoing care they need.

Within the last few weeks a couple of our special needs dogs have left Romania to go to new foster or forever homes in Austria and Germany and so we wanted to share some of their stories, and their happy endings.

Mishu

When we first found Mishu he was more dead than alive, and we did not know if he would survive and if he did survive if he would ever fully recover.  Slowly though he came round and started to get better, but at first with some difficulties in walking and orientating himself.  It was a slow, and expensive process, but Mishu was such a fighter and had such a strength of character that he pulled through and made a full recovery.  When he was fully recovered we found Mishu a foster home with a wonderful lady called Anna, in Austria, where he was a pure joy to watch.  He was a fantastic, bundle of energy and joy and you would never have known how close to death he had been.  We then found him a forever home with an Austria family, but unfortuantely after just one week they decided he was too “puppy like” and returned him into foster care.  We were devasted, and very angry with the family for having adopted a young dog and not had the presence of mind to think things through.  We were also worried about the emotional effect this would have on a young dog who had already been through so much.  Fortunately however we found Mishu another – permanent – forever home and he showed us just how amazing a dog he really is.  He adapted with his new situation and carried on being a pure joy – showing no negative effects of all the bad luck he had been through.  Mishu had a very tough start to life, and went through so much bad luck, but we stuck by him and he provided us with insipiration to carry on helping other dogs like him – in a way he stuck by us too!

Allegra

A few months ago I wrote about the mass poisoning of strays (and unlucky pets outside at the wrong time) which was very upsetting for all of us.  Now of course we are braceing for the next round of mass killings, including more mass poisonings and beatings, thanks to the recent law change in Romania which has provided the death knell for thousands of strays.  We wish we had more happy endings to share from these incidents but unfortauntely we only have one.  Allegra was one of the few dogs we managed to find alive post-poisoning.  We rushed her and the other few to vet for emergency treatment and did all we could to help.  Unfortunately she was the only survivor which was devastating and really demoralising.  It is fortunate therefore that we have found her a forever home, and she has now left the country that tried to poison her to death.  She is now safe and happy in her new home, far away from Romania.

Jenny

We found Jenny on the way to the clinic to visit Mia – she had been hit by a car and was badly injured. Unfortuantely the vet was unable to rescue her leg as it was so damaged, so it was amputated.  Jenny was naturally very scared and shy but she was also a lovely sweet little character and recovered from her ordel.  Jenny has now been found a forever home where she is thriving and very happy, dispite only having three legs.  She is now part of a family and faces a happy, bright future that had we not found her by the roadside she would never have had – in fact she would probably have died a very painful death, there by the roadside.

 

Jenny with 3-legs recovering from surgery

Anda

Anda came to us last year extremely emaciated and very ill.  It turned out Anda was a special needs dog with health and digestive issues, which meant she needed a special diet in order to survive.  This meant that Anda needs specialist food which is very expensive.  We raised money through our supporters over the last year and Anda was able to put on weight and return to relative health.  However Anda can only ever eat special food and will always have health issues so requires special ongoing care.  She is however a lovely gentle lady who we swore to stand by and we continued to raise funds for her care.  We are overjoyed then when a very special family came forward to adopt her and opened their home to her, and will provide for her and give her the care she needs for the rest of her life.

These are just some of the happy stories we have to share from our special needs dogs over the last year.  Each one required additional support and more care than a normal stray, and each one sapped our very limited financial resources.  Thanks to our supporters and donations from around the world however we were able to rescue these special dogs, and provide them with the support and care they needed until they found forever homes.  Each one of these dogs would have died in pain and alone had we not stepped in and each penny we spent on them was worthwhile.  Each one of these dogs is now happy with new families outside of Romania, and making their new families very happy and showering them with unconditional love.

But these are the happy endings – we still have many dogs in need of these happy endings, and we also currently have some special needs dogs that need ongoing support and forever homes.  Here are few of their stories and at the end of the post you can see how you can help them.

Odin

Odin was a big chap that we found walking the streets with a severe skin condition.  He was very skinny and in a very bad way, and given his size, potentially a problem to care for.  However we did not let this put us off so we took him into care and got treatment for him and started to help build him up.  Like most of the strays we rescue he was taken to the shelter (we ourselves do not have facilities to home most of the dogs).  Due to his size and the fact that we had rescued him off the street we were concerned however in putting him in with the general stray population at the shelter – he would be a clear target for a dominant pack and would undoubtably be attacked and end up injured.  The answer was that he has his own little dog house but that he has to be chained up outside.  He is now nearly fully recovered from his illness but we really hated seeing him chained up but had no other solution for him.   Fortuantely one of our supporters managed to find him a place at a local shelter in Koblenz.  He is still receiving treatment (we sent him off to his new shelter with a whole batch of medication so they would not have to pay for his treatment) and is safe out of Romania.  He is however still in a shelter and deserves a new home so we really hope that someone in or near Koblenz falls in love with this gentle giant and gives him the forever home he deserves.  So if you know anyone with room for a recovered gentle giant please let us know!

Foxy

Foxy is another special needs dog who is also still looking for a forever home.  We found Foxy and her sister Fanny in the shelter, bother emaciated and clearly very ill.  We took them out of the shelter and paid for them to stay at the vets receiving treatment.  Fanny made a great recovery and was able to return to the shelter.  Foxy however remained critical and fighting for her life.  She as extremely ill and had huge difficulty eating and putting on weight.  We perserved and never gave up on her and slowly she recovered.  She is still a frail dog but we have now got her into paid foster care where she is safe for the time being.  We also would love to find her a forever home where she can receive the love and care she needs.  Again let us know if you know anyone who could take this little angel.

Mila

Whilst most of our work is with stray dogs we help any animal in need, including cats like Mila.  Like so many of our special needs cases Mila had been involved in an accident and had been hit by a car.  Badly injured Mila had been left by the roadside to die but we found her and took her to the vets.  At first it was touch and go as she was so badly injured but slowly she recovered.  Sadly one of her eyes was so badly damaged it had to be removed, meaning it will be far harder to find Mila a forever home.  We currently have her in foster care, and given that she now only has one eye, she can not be returned to the street, so we really do need to find her a home.  We hope that someone out there will take pity on this poor, rather scruffy, lady and give her a warm forever home, off the street, where she will be safe.  In the meantime we continue to pay for her care and pay off her vet’s bills which were substantial.

Miracle puppy

This little lady is our very latest rescue.  Found wondering inside the shelter amongst the big dogs, this tiny puppy had clearly been attacked and was in a bad way. We have now taken her out of the shelter, she is receiving medical care, and is being fostered by our founder Aniela.  We do not yet know the outcome, and she may lose her eye, but she is receiving the best care and we will do all we can to see that she has a bright future.  We will need to pay for her current and future treatment to get her fit and healthy and then once she has recovered, and grown big and strong we will try to find her a forever home.

If you would like to help her or any of our special needs aniamls, or help us pay off some of their treatment please donate via paypal: hopeforstrays@yahoo.com or via bank transfer.  Every little helps and these special needs animals’ vet’s bills tend to be quite substantial.  Please support us so that we can continue to be there for these animals that would otherwise have nobody.  Please continue to share our post and our photos with friends and family and your social networks – each of our happy endings is thanks to someone sharing a photo or a story with friends and family.  Finally if you know anyone who could take one of our special needs rescues please contact us at hopeforstrays@yahoo.com

Thank you!