Dramatic before and after pictures show the amazing transformation of a rescue dog which was the thinnest animal ever seen by an RSPCA inspector. Maisie the Lurcher was found covered in fleas and at the point of starvation by inspector Amy McIntosh, but is now living her best life
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 Maisie was definitely the thinnest dog I've ever seen.
00:03 She was curled up into a little ball like she was in a bed.
00:06 Just like a little rock, she was still and cold and stiff to the touch.
00:09 I could see that she was just breathing
00:11 and that was when I realised she was still alive.
00:14 And when I put her into my van,
00:16 I was terrified that she wasn't going to be alive
00:18 when I got her out the other end.
00:19 It's really difficult when you've been doing the job for 10 years
00:23 because to a certain extent you do become hardened.
00:26 But there are certain things, like Maisie's case for example,
00:30 that you just never get used to.
00:31 If I'd have got there any later, she wouldn't have been alive.
00:34 All throughout that first week while she was at the vets,
00:37 every morning, every phone call that I had with the vets,
00:39 I was expecting it to be bad news.
00:41 And then in week two, they sent me a picture of her standing up
00:45 and that was when I knew that she was going to be OK.
00:48 So then we started to search for a foster home for her
00:50 because I knew she wasn't going to be well enough to go into kennels.
00:53 I knew she'd need to go straight into a home environment.
00:55 As soon as they sent a picture of her and I was aware of her condition,
00:59 I knew with my vet nursing background,
01:00 there was no way that I was going to say no to her.
01:02 She was so underweight, all her bones protruded,
01:06 so she had wounds on her shoulders
01:08 and they did an incredible job saving her life.
01:11 And when she came to me, she was still in an appalling position.
01:15 So exhausted most of the time that she just wanted to sleep.
01:18 And I knew it was going to be a long journey
01:20 to get her back and rehabilitate her.
01:23 Three to four months down the line after having her,
01:25 we went on a certain walk where there is a huge open field
01:28 and I let them off and normally she wouldn't leave my side
01:31 or leave my Labrador Cody's side.
01:34 And she just wagged her tail and set off.
01:38 And that was it. She was flying around with my Lab and my Cocker,
01:41 just doing loops, looking like a real lurcher and enjoying herself.
01:46 And it was great to see.
01:47 She's just such a fighter.
01:48 I can't believe she's gone from near death to what she is now.
01:53 It's just amazing. She's full of energy.
01:55 She's such a little character.
01:56 Obviously, if you can have a happy ending like in Maisie's case,
02:00 then it's much easier to deal with the horrendous start of it.
02:05 I feel most people aren't aware of how the RSPCA works
02:09 and that they don't get any help other than what we can help with
02:14 by donating or by rescuing, or if you can, by fostering.
02:20 If we didn't have them, there are so many animals that would lose their lives.
02:24 I'm really, really grateful to the people that donate to the RSPCA
02:27 because it means that we can keep doing what we do.
02:29 And there's no other charity that is involved in
02:34 prosecuting animal welfare cases like Maisie's.
02:37 And I think that's a really, really important role of the RSPCA.
02:40 Also for people who love to help animals,
02:42 but you potentially can't have an animal yourself,
02:45 being able to donate would save dogs like Maisie
02:48 and allow us to take them out of poor situations
02:52 and then rehabilitate them and get them happy and healthy and back into life.
02:56 So if you are in the position where you can donate,
02:59 it can make such a huge difference.
03:01 Let's save more animals.