Thank you for all your posts. Shandar's story is this. Unfortunately his owner has mental health problems and had avoided taking him to the vet despite repeated requests from me and another neighbour. It was obvious he was sick, he was emaciated, throwing up after every meal and ravenously hungry all the time. Eventually I rang the RSPCA to try to get him the help he needed. They were actually excellent and came out and ordered the owner to take him to the vet under threat of prosecution. So I took them and he was blood tested. Results showed thyroid deficiency and I spoke to the owner about the importance of care etc and she did take notice and give him his meds and keep me updated. Once on the meds he stopped vomiting, his appetite became more normal and he had gained a very tiny amount of weight. On Sunday evening he was sitting in his own front garden enjoying the evening sun when he was savaged by another neighbour's daughter's dog. They could care less, one of them said "that's what dogs do" and the other (who actually owned the two dogs) said "the kids had them" and shrugged her shoulders. They made no attempt to help Shandar or his family and had in fact gone in their house until I came out. So we rushed him to the emergency vet who said he was in deep shock. He had dragged his back legs to get himself to safety after the attack so we were concerned they had damaged his spinal cord. Anyway the vet said he still had feeling in his legs which was a good thing. She gave him painkillers and put him on a drip. Said he needed xrays to check for internal damage but was, at that time, not up to it. She said they would keep him on fluids overnight but his chances were only 50/50. If he survived the night they would try to xray him the next day.
At 10.30 he died. A post mortem xray showed his ribs were broken, his little chest crushed and his lung punctured. The police and RSPCA have visited the dog owners and given them a formal recorded caution ordering the dogs to be muzzled at all times in public. What sickens me is the callous lack of concern they showed for Shandar and his owners. Sorry for long post:)
