Dogs are known for their faithfulness and loyalty, and thus are one of the best pets to have. However, in spite of their wonderful traits, many of these animals seem to lack the love and affection that they rightfully deserve.
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, police officers were serving eviction notices in a neighborhood when they were notified by children about a caged dog. The cops found the dog outside an abandoned apartment; the sight of the helpless creature left them feeling appalled.
The dog, named Dice, was a 3-year-old pit bull mix who would’ve died if he hadn’t been found. The officers called animal control, and Dice was transported to a local shelter.
A volunteer at the shelter snapped a few photos of the dog and sent it to Tracey Godin, co-founder of Feeling Fine Rescue in Loxahatchee, Florida.
“It took your breath away,” Tracey said. “I didn’t know how he was still alive. Tears immediately came to my face.”
“The police, of course, asked the children how long the dog had been there, and they said they thought he’d been there a week or more,” she added.
Dice was clearly dehydrated and anemic. He could barely walk a few steps without falling, and his skull was visible; that indicated the amount of muscle mass he’d lost.
“We were in [the] parking lot at the vet, and when he took one step to get up on the sidewalk, he couldn’t hold his body weight up and just collapsed. I didn’t think he was going to live,” Tracey recalled.
Dice had probably been neglected for months.
“He was not fed properly for months,” Tracey said. “The last week would have just been the final deterioration.”
Dice weighed just 30 pounds (approx. 14 kg), whereas a normal pit bull of his age would weigh at least 65 pounds (approx. 29 kg).
“In my opinion, if he had been in that cage another day, he would not have made it,” Tracey revealed.
The very next day, Tracey and her daughter, Micaela, rushed to the shelter and decided to take Dice to the vet.
Dice was then moved to the Feeling Fine Rescue that Tracey and her daughter run from their home.
Under the watchful care of Tracey, the pooch began to make a speedy recovery.
Dice gained an amazing 10 pounds (approx. 5 kg) in the first week, and two weeks later was 50 pounds (approx. 23 kg). Within the third week, he was at his best, weighing 65 pounds (approx. 29 kg).
He also began to show signs of happiness and contentment once again.
Micaela told The Dodo, “It’s really incredible to see how a dog can go through so much at the hands of people, and ... be immediately ready to love and trust new people.”
“We save a lot of dogs, and they all have stories, and they all come from such awful beginnings,” she added.
But the mother-daughter duo was really surprised with “how quick he was able to bounce back, and how gracefully he did it.”
They even referred to his transformation as a “miracle.”
Micaela also revealed that Dice had the most amazing personality. He’d been an adorable dog from the very minute they met him.
The saying “no pain, no gain” holds true in the case of Dice. All that suffering turned out for the better as he was then spotted by a family in late December 2018, who fell in love with him the moment they saw him.
The family came to visit Dice several times and even asked if they could do a meet-and-greet at their property with their two other dogs.
To their surprise, Dice not only gelled with the other dogs but also bonded with the children in the family.
Dice finally found his happy home where he would be under the care of a loving family. Not all dogs can recover as quickly as Dice.
His resilience is truly commendable, and the fact that he was able to make it through such a traumatic incident so quickly is something to marvel at.
