Lulu was found abandoned in a trailer with fur so heavily matted, you couldn’t tell her head from her tail. Who knows how long this poor senior Lhasa apso had been trapped inside her urine soaked and feces coated fur.
She was immediately brought to a veterinary clinic for a sedated shave to relieve her pain and distress. The dog revealed after the shave was tiny, with black and white fur. She was so thankful to be free.
“Seeing Lulu free of all that matted fur was so gratifying,” says Jasen Nyrose, manager of the BC SPCA’s Chilliwack animal centre. “Lulu would also require treatment for her ears and skin and spay surgery. She was given a major dental cleaning and surprisingly, despite her age and the lack of care she had received, she only needed to have one tooth extracted.”
Lulu was placed with a foster to recover from her spay surgery. And guess what, we can happily report there was a foster fail!
“I was a new volunteer foster for the BC SPCA, and they gave me the option of Lulu or one other dog. I don’t know why, but I was immediately drawn to Lulu,“ says Amy her new mom. “I wanted to give her a safe and loving home while she recovered from her spay surgery, and get her ready for her forever home,” she says.
Amy and her boyfriend Jake got more and more attached to Lulu the longer she stayed with them. “She just fit into the family so well,” says Amy. What sealed the deal was the Instagram post sharing Lulu’s story. “We didn’t know Lulu’s background when we agreed to foster her. Jake saw the post and realized just how much she had been through – he wanted to help her forever and I completely agreed with him.”
Remy, Amy’s five-year-old cockapoo, was a little unsure of the new house guest when she first arrived. “He is used to being an only child,” says Amy, “but once he knew Lulu was here to stay everything changed. They are the best of friends now, they wrestle non-stop. Lulu is 12, but she acts like a puppy around Remy.”
Amy adds that she thinks Lulu knows this is her forever home. “She isn’t a big cuddler, but she loves belly rubs and falls asleep right beside me,” she says. “Lulu loves to reorganize blankets and she does the cutest thing – she lays in the middle of our floor flat on her tummy with her little legs straight back.”
Lulu has completely bonded with Amy. “She has a little bit of separation anxiety that we are working on,” she says. “She will tear around the house if she can’t find me and when I come home, she does these happy spins.” Amy adds that she also does her little crazy circles for food and has started to do them for Jake as well! “You can tell she was not a fan of men before, so it is so nice to see her warming up to Jake.”
Amy says that although her first foster experience ended in a “fail,” she is so happy it did. “I can’t imagine our home without Lulu in it. After everything she has been through, I am so happy we get to love her and take care of her for the rest of her life. She is never going to suffer again.”
“Couldn’t tell her back from her front,” severely matted Lhasa apso rescued by BC SPCA
Original story: August 27, 2024
When little Lulu arrived at the BC SPCA after being abandoned in a trailer, she was severely matted and in a lot of pain. Urine soaked her coat and she was covered in her own feces. Her fur was in such terrible condition that Lulu was rushed to a veterinarian for a sedated shave to alleviate her suffering.
“When I first laid eyes on Lulu, I couldn’t tell her front from her back,” says Jasen Nyrose, centre manager at the BC SPCA’s Chilliwack community animal centre. “With the amount of fur she had, we thought she was medium sized dog. It was a huge shock when we picked her up after her shave and realized she is actually a 10 lbs Lhasa apso. The extreme pain little Lulu would have been feeling is just devastating.”
Once the excess fur and matting had been removed, it revealed rawness and significant irritation from where the knots had been pulling at Lulu’s skin. Her ears were badly infected, and she needs to have several decaying teeth extracted and a spay surgery.
“Lulu had been neglected and was in pain for so long from the matting and infections, she was absolutely terrified to be touched,” explains Nyrose. “But her physical appearance isn’t the only transformation we’ve seen in Lulu since she entered our care. After just a few days, Lulu has started to come alive actively seeking out love and attention. She even has the cutest little prance when she walks.”
Lulu is currently in the care of a BC SPCA volunteer foster while she recovers from her surgeries but look for her on the adoption page of the BC SPCA’s website in the next week or two.