Samuel emailed us a picture of a little injured puppy that looked less than 2 months old. The picture he took showed the puppy’s raw face with missing skin around his nose and eyes. It seemed like he was suffering from some sort of severe infection. He was cowering under a shelf in a factory.
The photo we received that broke our hearts. Mommy Dog was very concerned and watching over puppy Bruno.
We were alarmed! We had never seen a puppy looking like that. There was no doubt about it, this puppy definitely needed immediate medical attention. Our volunteer, Annie, hurried to the factory where Samuel was waiting. When Annie arrived, there were several other little puppies gamboling around the area. They were the litter mates of the injured puppy. But to her dismay, the injured puppy himself was nowhere to be seen. Samuel and Annie searched high and low for the puppy, and eventually found him hiding away from all his siblings. The poor pup was obviously in great discomfort, and had such sadness in his eyes. He was too sick to even move. He was curled up quietly, waiting for help. They scooped him up and put him in a cardboard box, and named him Bruno. Together, they left for the vet.
Arriving in a cardboard box
The stench from Bruno's infections was so strong that it was overpowering and nauseating. There were dozens of ticks crawling out of Bruno's cardboard box and dropping all over Annie’s car.
Outside the Vet, waiting his turn
We had to wait more than an hour at the vet before she was available to meet Bruno. We probably killed another 300 ticks while waiting. We tried to make him feel better by offering him food, but he refused. Then we took his weight. The puppy weighed only 5kg! We also noticed that his eyes were so badly infected that thick discharge was pooling around them. We flipped his ears over, and saw that both of them were also sticky with pus. They were so raw and infected that his hearing might have been affected. Watch puppy Bruno's video here :
Mucus and pus dripping from his little ear
Inside of Bruno's ears (right ear). Imagine the stench and the discomfort. His hearing may have been affected.
Bruno's other badly infected ear
And you think that was bad enough? A more thorough examination showed that his neck had 3 deep holes, filled with pus. One was on the right side of the neck and 2 were under his chin. We couldn't tell what caused them, and we don't even want to imagine the pain that Bruno is going through. We could only feel sorry for the fragile puppy, too weak to even stand on his own. He must have suffered for almost two weeks before Samuel finally got help for him. Interestingly, it was Samuel's first day at work there and that saved little Bruno's life!
Deep infected holes under Bruno's jaw
The vet was filled with sympathy for Bruno. She kept lamenting, “Poor puppy...," as she attended to him. She took some of his fur to test for mites and drew blood to test for Parvo virus and Distemper. Bruno was so afraid. He started squealing so loudly, even before the needle touched him. It took a while for us to calm him down.
Bruno was tick infested
Bruno's tests came back negative for mites, Distemper and Parvo virus, but he tested positive for tick fever. Imagine getting tick fever at this tender age! His blood tests also showed an extremely elevated white blood count, signaling a severe infection. He also had a low red count from loss of blood. He had a low platelet count and is nutrition deficient.
Although the blood tests showed a plethora of bad symptoms, the vet wasn't sure what Bruno's illness was. Her best guess was an allergic reaction, but what was his severe allergy triggered off by? So senior volunteer, Lisa, who has an interest in canine diseases and medicine, spent some hours researching. She found that Bruno looked to be suffering from a rare disease called Juvenile Pyodermaor Puppy Strangles. This disease usually affects puppies from 2 to 4 months of age, and does not show up on regular blood tests. The disease is genetic, and could sometimes affect entire litters, or just one unlucky puppy. In this case, it was Bruno. With her new found details, she will be checking with the vet on the best course of action for puppy Bruno.
The vet is extremely worried that Bruno is down with septicemia, so we'll have to monitor him closely for the next few critical days. He is running a high temperature and will be put on IV drips and given painkillers and antibiotics. The scarring on his face may be forever.
2-month-old Bruno is still just a baby. He suffered silently through this all by himself on the streets. Now, even though he's getting help at the vet, the young puppy is still in pain and in a strange environment. He must be so confused, scared and missing his mommy and siblings. Dear Bruno, please do not give up.
Exhausted after his vet check and poor puppy Bruno fell asleep on the consult table
We pray for Bruno and hope that he will fight through this ordeal. We will do whatever we can to help him. You can do your part to help Bruno too!
We are currently trying to raise funds to cover Bruno’s vet bill so that we can nurse him back to health. We hope to also find Bruno a foster so that he can be homed comfortably once he’s discharged.
In addition, when we found Bruno, we noticed 2 other female dogs (one of which is his mommy) and 5 of Bruno's siblings wandering around. They are in much better condition, but are also susceptible to the harsh condition of living on the streets. We need sponsors for these dogs so that we can deworm, vaccinate and sterilize them. We would also like to get them Frontline spray as most of them are infested with ticks. (Even now, a few days later, there are still hundreds of ticks on Bruno!)
Puppy Bruno's 5 siblings left behind
Please do let us know if you can adopt the remaining puppies. We currently do not have any more capacity to take in the remaining puppies but will definitely assist in getting the puppies to you if you can help give them a home. Please contact us if you can help us in any way. We certainly need all the help that we can get. You can do your part for Bruno and his family. Please kindly reach out to us, thank you.
To offer your help for Bruno and his family, please email hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg
