When Belle’s rescuers found her, she appeared like she had a severe and debilitating skin disease. But they rapidly realized the bumps covering her body were actually ticks.
Rescuers from CLAW (Community Led Animal Welfare) in Johannesburg, South Africa, were contacted us to get Belle from a grossly neglectful home. The poor young dog, that is a mix of lab and dog, had been an unwilling host to the ticks for a very long time already, and was on the verge of death. She was anemic and weak, and fighting tick fever.
They rushed her to the vet to get emergency situation medical care.
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Ticks are a common pest in various parts of the world, but the intrusion of ticks on Belle’s body was jaw-dropping.
She had countless ticks on her. They had crusted over the outside of her soft floppy ears and had swarmed inside of them. They had acquired her eyelids, making it tough for her to see. The ticks had been living off of Belle for as long that they were bloated with her blood, relying on the blood vessels in the tender, thin-skinned areas of her face to make it through.
The infestation was so severe that the clinical group couldn’t pick the ticks off. Belle had actually already lost so much blood from the parasites that if the group tried to remove them one at a time, she would certainly lose way too much blood and die.
So they provided her solid anti parasitic medications instead.
A pair days after her extensive treatment started, the ticks started to remove and diminish, having been paralyzed by the medication. Once they started their mass exodus, center staff treated the skin infections that the ticks left behind. Because she was severely malnourished, Belle was likewise put on a special diet to provide her an increase of much-needed vitamins.
She gradually grew healthier. Her coat came to be shiny and silky, and her fur expanded back over the parts of her skin that were left bare or multicolor by the ticks. She became a healthy, happy pup, and her true nature really started to shine under the specialized treatment and affection of the people at CLAW.
Her story went viral, and she captured the hearts of people all over the world.
Nevertheless, there wasn’t a great deal of interest in adopting her. Hard to believe, right?
In fact, there was just one individual who sent an application: Hannah Claire van Collier. When Hannah put on adopt Belle, she assumed there would be a lot of competition. Rather, it seemed like she and Belle were simply meant to be with each other.
” Belle rather literally stole Hannah’s heart within secs of them meeting,” a post on CLAW’s Facebook web page checks out, “and it has actually been a match made in heaven. Belle landed her bum in the butter and hasn’t looked back, improving daily!”.
We’re so happy that Belle is now healthy and liked, like she deserves to be, in her forever home.
