I just met Paco today.......He is about 7 or 8 months old. Paco was a street puppy. He had never had a family who cared. He had never met a kind human. He was thrown away and left to fend for himself in a strange place.
Probably born to a mama dog whose owners would never ever think to have her spayed, the puppies came along and, when they were old enough to take away from the mama dog, they were thrown away like yesterdays garbage with never a thought as to how much they might suffer.
After weeks of trying to survive on garbage and whatever he could find on the streets, Paco ended up wandering into a school yard. He had not eaten for several days and he was very weak and sick. He curled up in a sheltered spot under the porch of the school, to escape the rain, and he fell asleep.
When he woke up he was startled to see the face of a little girl very near his! She was crooning to him and reaching out for him with her small hand.
He was naturally afraid of humans. He certainly had no reason to trust one!!! He had never known anything from them but cruelty.
But this one little human girl seemed to be different. She seemed to actually want to touch him! She called to him and kept reaching for him.
Even though he was afraid, he was just too weak to run anymore. He allowed her to touch him, then pet him, then pick him up. Was it possible that there were actually "good" humans in the world? This was something he had really never considered and he was amazed. He had never even imagined a humans hands could be so gentle and feel so good!!! The little girl seemed so sweet and kind as she stroked his head and neck. She crooned songs to him as she carried him back to her home after school was over.
When they arrived at the little girls house he could hear her mother scolding her for bringing home another mouth to feed. The tone the mother used was very familiar to Paco. It was the same tone he always heard coming from the humans who were shooing him away, throwing rocks at him or kicking at him if he happened to be in their path. It was a tone filled with hate and ignorance....and Paco was once more afraid.
He had good reason to be afraid. The mother was not only ignorant and hateful, she was also evil.
He lived with the little girl for the next two days. She was very gentle and kind to him and he was so happy to have someone to love him at last! She shared her food with him and made a soft bed for him from old blankets on the back porch. He felt loved at last.
When the little girl left to go back to school on Monday the mother called a worker to come to her home.
“Kill this animal and dispose of it before my daughter returns from school.” she ordered. The worker picked up a hammer and, before little Paco could run away, he slammed the hammer into Pacos' head!
Paco started screaming! The pain was terrible! WHY? Why would this man do such a thing? Paco had done nothing to him and was not even in this mans way! The man has just walked up to him with a hammer and hit him very hard in his head! All he could do was scream! His head was too hurt to even be able to think!
The neighbors heard the screams and came running out of their homes. The worker, fearing he might be in trouble, ran away, leaving Paco screaming in pain. The mother never even bothered to come outside.
The neighbors called some people they knew who help animals. Those people called the police.
They came to the mothers house. The police told the mother she could be in serious trouble. The rescue people took Paco to a veterinarian and asked her if she could help him.
The vet was not sure how badly Paco was hurt or if he was strong enough to be helped. He was so weak and malnourished he might not survive.. She said she would have to examine him, have ex-rays done, test him, and observe him closely before she could say whether he could be helped.
When she looked at his gums they were not pink. They were not gray. They were white. Even after he came out of shock his gums were still white. He was extremely anemic and so very weak from the malnutrition. Now he had a head injury too.
The people who help animals made a call to Lighthouse. The vet care, tests, meds and all were going to cost money. They are a spay/neuter group and did not have money to help this dog or a place where he could go while he recuperates. They asked if Lighthouse would take the dog in and pay the bills. Otherwise they might just have to put Paco down for lack of money and because they don‘t foster dogs.
Lighthouse agreed to take on the expenses and to take Paco into Lighthouse when he is released from the vet..
The vet tested him for erhlichia and for heart worms and found that he did not have either of those horrible illnesses! That was a VERY lucky break for little Paco.
When they ex-rayed his head they found that his skull had been fractured but the fracture was not touching the brain. That was another blessing for little Paco.
When I went to see him today he was actually wagging his tail a tiny bit and seemed almost glad to see me.
He is, as I type this, having a blood transfusion. I will be going back down to see him tonight.
More on his story as we go along.
Please, please say prayers for him.
Hugs and prayers,
Kitten
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