Walter, the severely injured pitbull pup of Park Slope, is on life support — and he needs your help!
Walter was discovered on Easter Sunday at 15th Street and Third Avenue by Alex Darsey, who lives nearby. After inquiring about where this pitiful puppy had come from, a neighbor told Darsey that he had just seen a car pull up, ditch the dog, and peel off.
Walter’s heartless previous owners had left him in a sorry state. The two- or three-month-old sick puppy had an extreme case of mange and was severely malnourished and dehydrated.
But according to Walter’s new owners, that was the least of the pup’s worries.
“It appears that his previous owners used some sort of chemical — like bleach or ammonia — in a cruel and misguided effort to treat the mange,” his owners wrote in an online post.
Darsey, along with four others, are trying to rehabilitate Walter. They doped the dog up with antibiotics and anti-parasite meds, as well as baths to soothe his raw and inflamed flesh.
“After a few days of baths, good meals and lots of love and attention from his new family, Walter seemed to be doing really well,” Walter’s caregivers wrote.
But his improving health was short-lived.
On April 11, Walter began ignoring food, and his temperature and electrolytes went into sharp decline. According to his owners, his body temperature was in fact so low that it didn’t even register on the veterinarian’s thermometer. He was then put in a doggy-incubator of sorts, and given a canine IV.
“His mange is so bad that he no longer has his fur to act as an immune defense,” his owners wrote. “His body is like a sponge for bacteria and infection, and he is so weak that he cannot fight it on his own.”
Still, Walter fights on. But as he slowly recovers in doggy intensive care at the veterinary emergency clinic on Warren Street between Smith and Court streets, his owners now have to cope with the fact that his emergency treatment costs loads of cash.
“As long as he is fighting to stick around, we will fight with him,” Walter’s owners pledged. “There is no shortage of people to care for this little man and he does have a home waiting for him — we just need to get him strong enough to make it there.”
So Walter’s owners are soliciting donations to get the pup through this heart-wrenching ordeal.
“We wouldn’t want to make a decision about this little guy’s future based on an inability to continue to pay for medical care,” his desperate owners wrote. “We are all doing our best to come up with whatever we can, but our pockets are only so deep.”
Donations for Walter, the severely traumatized puppy of Park Slope, can be made through helpsavewalter.blogspot.com.
