Last Updated on April 20, 2023 by Pets Feed
For several months, a hairless dog roamed the streets of Houston, Texas (USA). The animal was walking on the road in search of water and food, and so one night he saw a woman in a parking lot and approached her for help; the person offered him food and put a collar on him.
The poor beast was called Gardenia and her rescuer decided to post her story on Facebook to find her a foster family. This is how Caitie Evers found out about her case and decided to help the dog.
Caiti told The Dodo:
“I’ve been known as the fan of mange cases. People email me or tag me in any post about a stray dog with mange.”
Rescued hairless dog is now fluffy white
Unfortunately, Caitie knew that by her looks, Gardenia must have suffered a lot of rejection from people, but inside she was a sweet, scared little dog with a desire to be loved.
The woman picked up the hairless dog to take him home, and when she went to the vet, they discovered that Gardenia had demodectic mange; a skin disease caused by Demodex canis, a mite found in the hair follicles of dogs and cats that is not contagious and can be easily treated with medication.
Caiti recalls:
“She had loads of scabies all over her as well as secondary scabies infections because she had clearly been like this for a while. It was really bad, her whole back was raw.”
Gardenia looked uncomfortable and very itchy when scabies was treated and recovered; it made her a little more shy. But little by little, with the medicinal baths and the antibiotics, he started to flourish again and his fur was already growing back.
Caiti said:
“She was very shy at first. He was just hanging around, not playing, not snuggling. The poor girl looked miserable. It seemed like he hated life and had given up.”
As soon as Gardenia recovered, so did her personality. The dog started to look happy and played; she liked to jump and was fascinated by the family dog.
The woman added:
“The first two weeks it’s hard to tell if there’s a change, then it’s like, ‘Bam! different dog. And now she’s so sweet and beautiful.”
When the time came, Caitie began to search for a loving, forever home for Gardenia. Her friend Bri Tripaldi immediately showed interest in meeting her; she and her fiancé knew about the dog’s story and wanted to give him a home with them.
Bri says excitedly:
“I saw her come out of her shell and become the most adorable puppy. We had to go meet her and we fell in love instantly. On the way home after meeting her for the first time, I watched Jayden and I said, “It’s her. I was right!”
Now Gardenia has a loving home and her recovery has been successful; he couldn’t find a better family to be happy with for the rest of his life.
If you want to know a bit more about Caitie’s work with homeless dogs, you can visit her Instagram account.
Images: Instagram / caitiesfosterfam
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