'One of the worst cases we've seen'
Poor Duchess slipped through the net when her owner became ill and there was nobody left to care for her...
With such a sweet and gentle nature, Duchess was clearly once a well-loved pet.
But when her owner became seriously ill and went into hospital, nobody was there to care for her – and she arrived at our Bromsgrove centre in a terrible state.
Through no fault of her loving owner, the eight-year-old jack russell cross had been suddenly left home alone. A concerned neighbour started popping in to feed Duchess, but it was no substitute for proper care and love.
In the absence of medicated baths for a long-term skin condition, lonely Duchess developed sore skin and fur loss. She also suffered from infected ears and eye problems, lost weight, and – without any walks – her nails grew painfully long.
Jess Read, Pet Welfare Assistant and Duchess’s main carer, says: “She’s the sweetest, well-rounded dog, so she clearly had a nice life before – but given the state she was in, she had clearly been neglected for some time. It’s one of the worst cases we’ve seen.”
But we’re so grateful that Duchess eventually found her way to Blue Cross – just a month after arriving, she was unrecognisable, both physically and mentally.
Jess says: “When she first came in, she was shutdown for the first two days. She sat in her kennel and wouldn’t approach us.
"But it only took about two to three days for her to start getting excited when she saw us and start approaching.”
Duchess simply relishes human company – even when that involves her daily eye and ear drops, treatments many dogs struggle to cope with.
“She’s an angel and tolerates anything,” continues Jess. “Even eye drops, which most dogs hate – she's just happy to see you, it’s like she knows it’s going to make her better.”
Medicated baths every other day also healed Duchess’s sore skin, although it’s unlikely that all her fur will grow back completely.
“After she’s had her bath, she loves being dried off with a towel. She scratches herself all over – she’s the funniest girl ever,” Jess says.
Regular lubricant and antibacterial eye drops have been helping to relieve her dry eye condition, and this treatment may need to be lifelong.
“She recovered quite quickly. Looking at her now, we can’t even believe it’s the same dog in her intake pictures,” Jess reflects.
But the most incredible thing about Duchess is her resilience and her ability to radiate so much love despite the sadness that she has endured.
“She’s just so loving,” Jess says. “She’s really content in her kennel but is also super social.
“Duchess is the sweetest dog – a cuddly lovebug. She has overcome so much; she is such a tough little girl, yet so gentle-natured and sweet. There’s not a dog at the centre that I would trust more.”
Jess continues: “She’s confident even though she’s not had a lot in her life recently. She’s really confident meeting new people and other dogs. She’s just brilliant all-round.
“And she doesn’t act her age – she still really likes to play as well as sitting on the sofa with you.”
Unsurprisingly, once Duchess was well enough to start her search for a new home, her sweet nature soon caught the eye of a potential adopter.
And, after nearly 50 days in Blue Cross care, she had found a new owner to love her as much as her first.
