By Carrie Allan
The animal who came in last night to
the disaster response staging area in Hattiesburg,
Mississippi was, technically, an Afghan. But he no
longer had any of the qualities that make these
animals so beautiful.
Surrendered to the disaster response teams by an
owner in Mississippi, the male dog showed signs of
long-term starvation, beyond the effects of the
rough days since Katrina roared through. He was
horribly matted and filthy, and once the veterinary
team began carefully and gently shaving away the
matted clumps of fur, his naked skin was revealed:
It was papery and crusted with infection. His feet
were also matted, his nails grown into long, thorny
hooks, and his front feet were so infected beneath
the matting that each toe was raw, pink, and
weeping. He was so thin he could barely stand, and
his ribs—every one of them visible—heaved slowly as
veterinarians examined and began to treat him.
It was obviously the first TLC the
dog had gotten in a long time.,
LONG BEFORE KATRINA HIT. He
stood trembling, his pitiful hipbones protruding and
his tail tucked between his legs. The team got an IV
drip into the dog to get some fluids into him. The
dog didn't flinch or whimper at the needle. He just
stood gazing at Rick Chaboudy, a responder from the
Humane Society who offered the dog fingers full of
food. "It's a good sign that he's eating. A lot of
times when a dog is this far gone, he won't even
want to eat," Chaboudy said grimly.
The staff agreed that the dog was in
for round-the-clock veterinary monitoring and a long
rehab period. But they hope that more care and
medical treatment will get the dog looking like an
Afghan again. His rescue may turn out to be one
silver lining of Katrina's storm clouds.
" If it wasn't for the hurricane,
this guy would have just died from horrendous
Neglect."
