Abandoned Puppy Recovering From Skin Disease Needs New Home
BOSTON (CBS) - Sheba is a four month old English bulldog mix on the mend. Her fur was entirely eaten away by the worst case of mange her caretaker at MSPCA Angell has ever seen.
"I was so sad for her," said Andrea Bessler. "She was in so much pain and she had so much infection and she was so itchy."
In fact, when her unknown owner abandoned her on a Dorchester Street three weeks ago, she was covered in oozing, infected wounds and scabs, too weak to even stand.
"More likely than not somebody was just totally overwhelmed, they didn't know what to do, or how to get her help," said Alyssa Krieger.
Enter Angell with a revolutionary treatment.
Sheba is battling demodectic mange, a skin infection caused by mites. She's being treated with a special drug that is super-charging her immune system to fight it.
"It is an injection that goes underneath the skin and basically it stops the receptors that make her itchy," Bessler said.
That way, the puppy didn't scratch herself into a bloody mess giving the regimen of antibiotics and other meds a chance to kill off the tiny intruders and heal the skin. The sweater Sheba now wears protects her pink, tender, hairless body.
"My heart just broke for her," Bessler said.
But now, Sheba's not contagious and getting better every day. She's even making friends with the shelter cat and playing with dog-loving reporters.
"Hopefully she will make a full recovery and her hair will grow back and she will be a healthy, happy dog," Bessler said.
The phone is already ringing with folks interested in adoption.
Interested adopters can email adoption@mspca.org for more info.