Editor’s note: Disturbing images
SURREY — The drool-filled Great Dane channels Scooby Doo.
Eclipse is a happy, social guy — a gentle giant, if you will, who has a fondness for squeak toys. But his cheerful demeanour is despite his recent hardships.
The adult Great Dane was found near Green Timbers Urban Forest on, you guessed it, the day of the eclipse (Aug. 21). He ended up at the Surrey Animal Resource Centre (SARC).
Though large, male Great Danes are said to weigh up to 150 pounds, he was just over 85 when he was brought in.
Thanks to the staff at SARC, he now weighs just over 101, but that’s still a far cry from where he needs to be. He’s so underweight that his sternum bone is visible.
To complicate things, he has a mass the width of about a softball on his back right leg that’s infected.
“He was found on the side of the road one evening by a Good Samaritan,” said SARC animal shelter manager Shelley Joaquim. “He was taken to Langley emergency because they house stray dogs for us overnight. We picked him up in the morning and we took him straight to a vet where they were able to assess his condition and help us put him on a proper feeding plan and start antibiotics for the infection.”
Bloodwork and urine analysis indicated that Eclipse has anemia and Joaquim said “that could be due to the emaciated state and the flea infestation.”
“When they did a biopsy on the mass, so far it’s coming up just as a callous (and not cancerous) but because it’s so infected and so angry, the vets are suspicious that there might be something underneath the callous so they are wanting to remove it,” said Joaquim. “But because he is so thin and the mass is still infested. He’s going to go into foster on a month-long treatment of antibiotics. Then once that has happened, he will go see the specialist about what it will take to remove the mass, but there wont’ be enough skin to close the mass so there won’t be enough skin to close the gap, s they will have to take a skin graft from somewhere else to close the mass on his legs.”
Surrey’s manager of animal care and control Kim Marosevich said sadly, this isn’t a rare story.
“This is very dramatic, so it’s going to get a lot of attention. Brooklyn’s story is effectively exactly the same,” she said, pointing to a black dog housed at SARC right now. “Brooklyn was dumped near the shelter, she obviously has some medical issues, some skin issues, she’s been fearful, she’s been here for about a month…. This is not an uncommon situation in shelters, where people don’t take great care of their pets and for whatever reason, hit a point where they then abandon them. At least (Brooklyn) wasn’t in quite such severe distress, she was dumped near the shelter rather than a city park, but it’s not an uncommon story.
“It would be the same story for her.”
While no one knows what happened to Eclipse, it certainly didn’t happen overnight.
“Where was he for long enough to get into this condition that nobody saw him?” Marosevich asked. “We have no idea whether someone dumped him there, whether he escaped where he was and made his way there. We really don’t know anything about his story until a Good Samaritan picked him up and he’s come to us for care.”
Surrey Animal Resource is caring for him, but needs some help to pay for his vet bills, which are expected to be in the thousands of dollars.
So far, more than $900 has been donated to SARC, but more is needed.
Donations can be made in person, at 17944 Colebrook Rd., or by credit card over the phone at 604-574-6622. Cheques can also be mailed in.
Stay updated on Eclipse’s condition at facebook.com/surreyanimalresourcecentre.