Rescue Dog Has 9 Pounds of Matted Hair Removed and It Turns Out She Only Weighs 11 Pounds
Warning: Photos below may be disturbing to some readers.
One rescue pup has had a serious glow-up!
When little Ellie Mae arrived at the Nebraska Humane Society, her hair was so matted that she couldn’t move, let alone walk. The NHS said on Facebook last week that her dirty, matted hair was “the worst that we’ve ever seen.”
But looking at her now, it’d be hard to guess the dire condition she was discovered in.
After being found in the house of her owner after they passed away, Ellie Mae “looked like an animal you’d see by the side of the road, weeks after it had been hit by a car,” the NHS said on their website last Friday. The NHS said that the people who were sent to clean up the deceased’s house didn’t know that they owned a dog.
Dr. Amber Horn and the NHS’ medical team spent an hour removing nine pounds of hair, ultimately saving her legs from amputation. The painstaking process also revealed that Ellie Mae had seven-inch toenails “that were cocooned in hair, feces, and years of grit.”
After all of the extra weight was removed, Ellie Mae weighed only 11 pounds — but that didn’t mean that the medical team’s work was done. The pup had an infected foot and needed hernia surgery, dental work and antibiotics.
RELATED: Ellen DeGeneres Introduces New Rescue Puppy: ‘She’s So Cute, I Can’t Even Take It’
After five more hours spent by the team to care for all of her maladies, Ellie Mae was transformed and was even able to go on a walk outside.
“She stumbled a bit as she likely hadn’t walked in quite some time. But with each outing she grew stronger,” the NHS said.
Now, it’s been two weeks, and Ellie Mae “loves to explore and greets everyone with a sweet face and a happy demeanor. She is mobile and seems to appreciate being able to move and sniff and see the world before finding warm blankets to curl up in!”
“Now she’s doing better than ever,” the NHS said in their Facebook post. “She seems like a whole new dog.”
