When an animal is suffering neglect or abuse, the signs can become obvious very fast.
Abuse tends to be easily spotted, especially if the human abusing the animal is heinous and does not care to hide the horrible acts that they are doing.
But what is worse than abuse sometimes is neglect. An animal can be fearful of abuse, but they do not understand neglect. Why is their human no longer giving them love and affection? They'll never be able to figure out what that means.
Sadly, neglect can take a long time to truly take its toll on an animal. When a dog is neglected, besides seeing their bones through the skin, another sign of neglect is extremely overgrown nails and fur.
Like Lazarus, who had to have 35 pounds of fur shaved off of his body, these two doggies were found covered in matted fur that would have taken months and months to grow out like that.
[H/T: Bark Post]
Tiny Hannah and her 14-year-old friend Buddy came from two different homes, but after being discovered in similar situations, these dogs have formed a very strong bond.
Their rescuers believe, “perhaps that is what they needed to make it through the atrocities that they had lived.”
According to Trio Animal Foundation, who rescued this little girl, Hannah's condition was so bad she couldn't eat, walk, or drink due to her fur.
She couldn't even use her left leg! The fur had wrapped around her leg so severely, the vets working on her thought they'd need to amputate it immediately.
Doctors had not been optimistic about Hannah's survival, she had to spend weeks in the hospital while they monitored her health.
At the same time, her friend Buddy was brought into the hospital in a worse state. His fur was so matted, it had cut off circulation to his skin and caused it to become paperlike.
On top of Buddy's skin and infections from his fur, his teeth had gotten so bad that the vet needed to remove 18 of them.
Because Buddy was 14 already, doctors kept a special close eye on him. The two dogs formed a friendship that rescuers didn't even realize at first! They believe had these dogs not had each other, there is no way they would have survived.
Just when Buddy and Hannah were ready to leave the hospital, Trio Animal Foundation was touched by a particular adoption application:
"It told the story of how a loving father and mother took a 12-year-old boy into their home after tragic circumstances left him to grow up in and out of abusive foster homes since the day that he was born in Cook County Jail. After taking on unfathomable hurdles for the past 17 years, their son is now an honor roll student who is lettering in 3 varsity sports and is college bound. Only love can hold one up for such success… the love of a son and the love of his mom and dad. Surely, our Hannah and Buddy would be blessed to be part of this family."
Hannah and Buddy's new dad got down on the floor to earn these dogs' trust.
The whole family was head over heels about the two dogs and immediately wanted to add them to their family forever!
Don't forget to SHARE these rescued little doggies with all of your friends and family!
