Minnie’s Skin Untreated for Years

Poor Minnie, not looking like a dog at all

        

Earlier this month, the owner of a 14-year-old female poodle reached out to us. Her senior dog, Minnie, was in desperate need of medical care, but unfortunately, the owner had been unemployed since 2017 and just could not afford veterinary care. As such, Minnie’s condition deteriorated over the years until the owner could no longer bear it anymore and decided to reach out to us for help. We could tell that she was genuinely concerned about Minnie, and we knew we had to do something.

Minnie's owner had chanced upon our page and was relieved that she did not have to surrender her dog to ask for medical assistance. She felt that this was the time her dog needed her the most.

To be honest, we were very shocked when we first saw Minnie. Her skin condition was really in a dire state -  she is just left with elephant skin.  We can’t help but wonder how uncomfortable and itchy she must have felt over the years. Her skin was visibly dry and scabby, and covered in small wounds and lumps. She looked really unwell and weighed only 3.6 kg. 

                              

We immediately brought Minnie to our vet for a thorough check, and as expected, there will be a series of tests and long-term treatment involved. Her immunity is low, with a low red blood count, and the vet worries that it could be skin cancer on top of skin disease🙁. Minnie has non-healing sores, ulcerated growth on her lip and hanging growth which makes cancer a possibility. For a start, a series of blood tests were performed this round to look at her overall health. She was given cytopoint (anti-itch jab) and was prescribed antibiotics, anti-fungal and medicated shampoo; she will also need to start taking hypoallergenic kibbles instead of the normal kibbles. Minnie is tested positive for ringworms so our priority now is to treat the skin infection. 

 

We are glad that Minnie’s owner reached out to us for help, though we wish she had done so earlier. We are already saddled with many senior dogs that need medical care, but we just couldn’t turn a blind eye to Minnie. If you would like to contribute to Minnie’s vet bills, please drop us an email at hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg. Her recent medical bill costs us $670. Thank you for supporting and helping us to help dogs like Minnie, in low income families, cope with their medical issues.