Dogs in Brazil: Before and afters

We are a foreign couple living in Brazil who have been rescuing street dogs for ten years now. We went broke doing this as a disaster ruined our business last year. The disaster hit january 11th/12th as floods and landslides devastated the area. Although we weren't physically harmed the tourist trade stopped for over a year and we were unable to sell our house for over a year because it was situated in the middle of the disaster zone. We are now totally dependent on animal lovers Worldwide who have helped us to maintain the dogs we had in our shelter at the time of the disaster and rescue more since.

Street dogs in Brazil suffer a lot. It is impossible if you love animals to turn your back on their pain. Their eyes plead with you as they lay dying usually slow deaths out there alone on the streets. We need to get people involved with this cause and try to diminish the street dog population here in the mountain area of Rio de Janeiro.

Here are just a few of the cases we have come across during the years. None of the dogs who died shortly after rescue are featured here. Many of the earlier years arenot featured either because I didn't have a digital camera

Before Guga

After Guga

This dog who had mange, a foot infection and a prostate problem was known to be twelve years old when we rescued him. We rescued him just a few days before the disaster so he was a very lucky old fellow.

Before Bonnie

Another before.

Bonnie After

Bonnie (now dead) came from an area higher up the mountain and had no ears. This is a punishment inflicted on dogs who enter houses through open doors and steal food. It is to mark them so everybody in the area knows that the starving dog is a thief.

Trooper Before

Trooper After

Trooper was found lying in the street bleeding from the hundreds of maggots eating his butt and knee. he had an abcess on his knee and was very thin. He seems to be half German Pointer and half Pit Bull. He one a place in the Cutest Dog Contest and is featured in their book of 1000 dogs worldwide.

Three Puppies found on a rock in the river.

Here are two of them sucessfully adopted out.

The third none also has a good home in Rio, but the owner doesn't have a digital camera or computer so we don't have a photo.

Pluto Before

Pluto After

This is Pluto with Gracie a black puppy dumped at the gate. They are both still here. I advertised extensively to find a home for Gracie but black dogs are not very popular here except for witchcraft sacrifice ceremonies. Pluto was just unwanted even though he turned out cute. He was given zero chance of survival by the vet. He had severe mal nutrition, worms and his rear legs were too weak to hold his weight. He was lying in the gutter dying and his entire family including the mom were dead in a bag nearby.

Panda Before

Panda after

Panda was found in my neighbors garden pregnant. She lost all her puppies and had anemia and mal nutrition. She is extremely nervous and has the scars where she was beaten up until today.

Daisy Before

Daisy after

Daisy is still with us as she is lame. She has a crushed pelvis and deformed leg and foot. She was hardly walking when we found her due to severe anemia.

Joey Before

Joey now

Joey was also dumped at our gate weighing in at just 2.9 kilos. He has been growing steadily ever since.

Five more puppies dumped at the gate.

On 13th June 2012 Gemma arrived. We found her hiding in our garden. She was very underweight, She had pocupine quills stuck in her snout and was sat shaking behind a bush.

Here she is just a week later after three meals a day and some love.

and ten days later

This is Oscar the chained dog. Somebody came to our house because they were concerned about a dog chained and starving. We followed up on it and found Oscar like this.

Two weeks later after veterinary treatment he was still very emancipated.

He has almost made a full recovery and has also had surgery on his eye which had inturned eye lashes.

Here is Oscar very nearly perfect.

And now perfect.

Here is Hope found paralyzed and covered in her own urine and feces. She was skin and bone only.

It took three baths to clean her and all her hair fell out. Her skin was totally burnt by urine and she had cancerous tumors.

To date she still hasn't managed to walk. She has had surgery to remove two of the biggest tumors and lives a dignified life free of hunger and filth. This was her at the vet clinic soon after we found her.

Now she gets to enjoy life although I am sure she would love to walk again. Who knows we are still hoping.

She gets to lay in the sun.

Here is Casper. She was living in an empty property with five other dogs who will all be rehomed here.

She was very frightened and thin and below is Casper now.

This is Henry. He was just sitting in the street waiting for help. We picked him up. He had severe anemia and mange.

He is a young dog at around two years old. He walked and looked like an old dog.

He was terrible depressed mentally and up until today still hasn't barked or played. He was abandoned as little more than a puppy and later on picked up by a mentally ill man who abused him. He has been with us a few weeks now and still has anemia and ongoing treatment for this. His mange is cured and his fur is growing back. He has learnt to smile.

Update on Henry who is now called 'Happy Henry'.We see some big smiles now and he has compltely overcome his depression.

Faith came to us very mal-nourished and with severe mange.

Faith took around three months to get better and now looks like this. She is a really lucky girl and is going to California USA to a new home.

Tessa was a victim of abuse. She has a crushed bone in her front leg and had been kicked in her face losing some teeth and breaking a bone in her nose. She was also extremely mal-nourished, anemic and frightened.

She is still recovering and building confidence daily. Here she is after six weeks.

Alice came to us because she was tied in a rubbish skip and people were throwing rubbish on top of her.

Alice is now in Portland Oregon.

Murphy was attacked with a machete and cut to the ribs.

She also had tick disease and needed a blood transfusion

She finally after months got well

Olivia arrived very thin.

She put on some weight and has been adopted by a family in Rio.

Simon was scalded with boiling water thrown at him.

He had an ulcerated eye from the burns. It took months to get him well.

Megan came in malnourished with dried milk and infected teats. There were no puppies in sight. She is now waiting for someone to adopt her.

Snoopy was beaten and thrown down a drain. He had an enormous maggot infested hole in his head. He is now living in Portland Oregon with Simon who also appears on this list.

Leah came in very malnourished with three puppies.

JoJo was an abandoned puppy that was attacked by a large dog who broke her leg. She has meatl screws holding her bones together. She is also waiting for an adopter.

Dixie came in with an embedded collar wound. She is also still here awaiting adoption.

Bowie was left alone tied to a tree with no food or water even though he had an owner. He had toes missing and a huge maggot infested hole in his back.

Katie laid in the road for three days with a broken leg and severe mange.

Luiza was rescued completely bald.

Rasta came in with his tail hanging off and infested with maggots.

Ruby came in with severe tick disease.

Sugar came in with five legs. Two of them very deformed. he had to have the two malformed legs amputated and has been adopted and will be leaving soon for Miami.

Zeke came in malnourished and had maggots and a back injury. He has to discs in his back fused together and could hardly walk. Now he runs.

Potter came in with a broken skull having been hit by a heavy pointed object which was probably a stone. he has been adopted and is leaving in a few days for the Orkney Islands.

Nicholas was in a terrible state starving and ill. He has diabetes and went blind with cataracts. Both eyes were operated on and he is now healthy although will always be diabetic.

Hudson arrived having been burnt with some type of hot liquid and had maggots in his back. He also had pneumonia and tick disease and was close to death. He was adopted and now lives in Canada.

Bonnie came to us with a nasty head wound full of maggots. It took many weeks to heal and she took quite a while to heal mentally too.

Bonnie is awaiting adoption here.

Next came Jade with a huge deep maggot infested wound on her neck. She was nearly dead and spent two days on a drip before we could deal with the wound. She was too weak even to bathe.

She is all better now and full of life.

Some of the new arrivals in 2019 to follow. First is Beatrice a starving and sick dairy cow. She miscarried her last calf and the farmer deemed her worthless. We paid him the price he would have received for slaughter.

We built her up with vitamins and gave her antibiotics. She was on a drip for a few days.

She gradually got better and gained some weight and then we found a male dairy calf who also was starving and not wanted. We thought about how many of her own calves must have been forcibly taken and decided to try and save the thin little guy who had lost his mom. Beatrice took to him on the first day. He follows her and she loves him. Here he is when he came in.

and here he is with his adopted mom. He too has gained weight and is a happy guy.

Two horses arrived together both malnourished and neglected. We called the white one Vivaldi and the brown one is Carmelo.

We have been giving them a great diet and they both gained weight.

We have since built them a sun shade and a stable. They are becoming quite affectionate. Carmelo likes to snuggle. We then rescued a Great Dane who was extremely thin and had some toes missing.

His foot got better and he soon fattened up. He was only being food corn flour once a week. He is a magnificent dog.

We named him Earl. Here is Blake next who was being sexually abused in a placa in town. He had a huge infection in his anus and was very sad when we went to rescue him. He didn't even raise his head to look at us. He was being looked after in the square by a restaurant owner who asked us to take him as he was going to die there.

He gradually got better and his confidence in humanity returned. He has gained weight and is healthy now.

Then came Blaze. He had a tumor and mange and was thin.

He had the tumor removed two days later and his mange cleared up with treatment and he is now fit and well.

Abby and Teddy are two puppies found in a remote area dying of Tick disease. Abby needed a blood transfusion to survive. This one is Abby. Below is Teddy.

They survived. Below is Simon also dying by the road side with Tick disease.

Here he is waiting for a biscuit.

Here is Georgie. He was seriously injured by the metal foot rest of a motor bike. His throat cut and trachea damaged. It took many stitches and up to date he is still healing. His owner was sat in a bar watching and did nothing to help him as he laid dying. He lost a lot of blood.

Here is Bentley he was shot in the face. The bullet missed all vitals and exited through his neck.

Here is Tara. She was eaten by maggots and lost her nostrils and sense of smell and has a big hole in the roof of her mouth. This type of wound is difficult to heal and high risk for infection. She is till healing and will be for a long time. She has liquid food as has difficulty eating.

Louie was a little puppy who got run over. He de-gloved his tail and broke a leg. His tail had necrosis so had to be removed and his leg recovered with rest.