Rocky was shot over 6 times in the head with a shotgun before being thrown from a bridge. He lay suffering in a ditch until we came to his aid. His story has brought so many new supporters to our cause and he has truly beaten all odds of survival, he is a miracle in so many ways.
15/08/23
I saw this poor dog laying at the bottom of a ditch. He had clearly been dropped off the bridge. I thought he was dead at first, but then he took a breath. I took him straight to the vet, who told me that as well as broken legs, he had holes in his head, put there by humans.
Someone had tried to brutally end his life, but failed. This is not our usual happy ending story. As you are reading this, he is in critical condition at the vets, unable to eat, drink or use his legs.
Please keep him in your thoughts.
17/08/23
Rocky is in isolation because he has tested positive for canine parvovirus, a highly contagious and often deadly virus. But he is becoming more alert and still fighting on. We have started a GoFundMe to clear our debt to the vet, this will ensure that they can prioritise Rocky's care.
21/08/23
Rocky in still in isolation. We cannot visit him personally until he has recovered from parvo, but it is seeming like he will recover well from it. The hair on his head is growing back a little. We have been told that he is gaining some personality back.
We appreciate the offers to adopt him, and we agree he is so beautiful. It is looking unlikely that he will be able to live happily in a home environment any time soon due to the trauma that he has faced, and the ongoing medical care that he will need. But we will continue to update whenever possible. Thank you for all of the donations to the GoFundMe, we are nearly at our goal!
23/08/23
Rocky has started trying to stand up! After his last week of quarantine is over, he will be allowed out of isolation to be more thoroughly x-rayed. This will mean that we can truly assess the damage done to his bones from the fall, and the vets can take the necessary steps to help the bones to fix properly so that there is minimal lasting effects.
We have also hit our GoFundMe goal!
This is absolutely incredible and we are now able to pay off our debt to the vets.
This also means that they will be able to treat Rocky with more urgency and quality going forward. And we will not have to worry about wether we can help the next dog like Rocky!
08/09/23
Rocky's X-Rays we’re delayed until today as the vets were not confident that he was free from parvo. But his X-Rays are probably complete as you read this!
Rocky is now standing up on his own! He cannot walk more than a few steps so it is still seeming that he definitely has some broken bones, but he is so determined to start getting around independently which is lovely to see. He has so much will and determination.
It became apparent that he was going to need a full general anaesthetic for the X-Rays to be performed. This is because, as he has started to recover, it is clear that the mental effects of the abuse are present. He is damaged, physically and mentally and particularly terrified of men. So only women can work with him currently, with very careful handling and lots of patience.
He is a sweet but tortured soul who needs time and compassion. Thanks to your help the vets are able to give him that. Please continue to keep him in vour thoughts. And wish him luck for his X-Ray results!
09/09/23
Rocky was finally x-rayed on Friday.
The x-rays revealed heartbreaking information which we have all needed time to digest.
Firstly, it appears that, miraculously, he has no major broken bones in his limbs although there is possible damage to his coccyx and one of his hind legs seems to have a muscular problem.
The real shock lies in the injures to his head.
It turns out that the holes in his head, are gunshot wounds. And the pellets are still lodged in his skull. This must be excruciating for him and explains so much of his unpredictable behaviour. It is such a miracle that he is alive.
He has also suffered a severe head injury which has cracked his skull and has caved it inward.
The theory is that either he was beaten/stomped in the head, shot and then thrown off the bridge, or he was shot, thrown off the bridge and suffered the head injures upon impact. The vet thinks that the first explanation is more likely and we can’t begin to imagine the suffering and pain he has been through.
On Monday he is going to be moved from the vets to a temporary location while he continues his recovery and is assessed further. The location is within a kennel facility, but they are creating a special area for him where he can be alone to recuperate and have some space of his own. We hope to get much better and more frequent updates once he moves and we can start to plan things for his future.
20/09/23
Beautiful Rocky is in the sunshine at last!
He arrived at the kennels today where he has his own special compound. This means that they can care for him closely and monitor his health with ease. We would like to stress that this is temporarily while he recovers, in a place a lot less stressful, and a lot more comfy for him than the vets.
He was supposed to be moved days ago but this was delayed due to issues with transporting him safely. He had to be sedated to be able to go on this journey, to reduce stress for him and as a precaution for those around him.
He was handling the affection at the kennel so much better than expected! It is still early days but this gives us hope for the future of his reactivity.
We acknowledge the poor state of his coat and hope to do something about this when he's better. He will need his coat to be as thick as possible for the upcoming winter.
We also want to address comments about removing the pellets from Rocky’s brain. They are lodged so deeply that it would be extremely risky to operate and would likely cause catastrophic brain damage. We have confirmed with our vet in the UK that this would be the same decision in a first world country too.
There are cases where dogs live full and happy lives with pellets or bullets never being removed from their brain, even a few commenters have shared their stories of this being the case for their dogs!
We are expecting Rocky’s final vet bill in the coming days! The additional GoFundMe donations will help greatly toward this which we are so amazed by. But we may need some additional funds to cover the entire bill which we will post about either way!
So what’s next in Rocky’s journey?
As we mentioned previously, this kennel is a half way step while he recovers, until he can come into our care full time!
We want the very best for him, and all of our other permanent canine residents, so we have a very big and very out of our comfort zone project planned. And we will need a lot of support behind it.
So please stay tuned!