A dog was found covered in thousands of fleas with two infections after its owner struggled to care for him.
Bobby, a 13 year old terrier cross, was rushed to the RSPCA Wirral and Chester Branch last week after an RSPCA inspector found him during a welfare check at an address in Birkenhead. His owner was considering having him put to sleep as they could no longer care for him due to what the RSPCA called "a change in circumstances".
Bobby was in a "filthy" state and with "thousands of black dots all over him" which were fleas.
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However, after being cleaned up Bobby was rehomed after Kay Hawthorne, who manages the RSPCA branch, fell in love with the dog. Kay decided to take Bobby into her own home, to join her other dogs Frankie, Maisie, Eva and Toots.
Kay said: "He was filthy and in quite a state with more fleas than we have seen on a single animal. He had barely any fur from the waist down and you could just see thousands of black dots all over him - which were the fleas.
"He had dirty infected ears and was also struggling from untreated dry eyes - both were sore and infected. One of his nails was very overgrown and gnarled, whilst another had grown into a complete circle - piercing his pad and growing into it significantly.
"Staff got to work and gave him a good clean where lots of fleas got washed off. He was treated for his fleas once he was dry. He was then wormed, his sore eyes were bathed and then we lubricated them.
"He then had his blocked ears cleaned out and we started him on a course of treatment to help clear the infection.
"We clipped his gnarled nail, and removed the piercing one from the pad, then bathed the wound, enabling him to put his foot down and walk properly for the first time in a long time.
"While all this was taking place he didn’t stop wagging his tail the whole time.
"That night he slept in a warm room on a clean, thick plump bed - the best uninterrupted sleep he had had in a long time, without the discomfort of fleas making him itchy and restless. His ears and eyes weren’t bothering him and he was able to walk without the piercing pain of a nail in his foot.
"He was just so sweet natured and lovely and I knew we would struggle to find him a home at such an elderly age so I took him on. He now looks so happy and it just proves there is life in the old dog yet"
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