Local Rescue Group Sets Off To Save Will, The Great Dane

A three-year-old Great Dane was hours away from dying when Southwest Great Dane Rescue (SWGDR) in Fla., came to his aid.

When animal services picked him up, they had no idea what was wrong with the dog. They just knew he needed help and fast.

Will The Great Dane

The gentle giant had bloated and gone into torsion. If it wasn’t for SWGDR and John Mullins, the volunteer who picked him up, the dog wouldn’t be alive today.

“In the middle of the night our volunteer went over to animal services to pick him up,” said Vikki Eagan president of SWGDR. “The dog’s stomach had descended and he was just not doing well.”

Once under the care of SWGDR, veterinarian Dr. Beth Brown from West Coast Veterinary Center, examined him and took some x-rays. She prepared the dog for surgery.

“When Dr. Brown opened him up, she saw the bloat and that the stomach had twisted,” said Eagan. “The splint had also burst and it was evident this poor dog had been sick for days.”

The surgery took over three hours. One hour alone was dedicated to emptying dog’s stomach content.

According to Dr, Brown, when the dog was on the table he picked up his head and looked at her with the softest eyes she had ever seen. He showed so much will to live and because of that, his name is now Will.

“Dr. Brown said she was going to do whatever it took to save him,” said Eagan.

Will spent one week in intensive car. At first he couldn’t get up or walk, but with the help of the volunteers and his now foster mom and vet tech Christina Pelletier, Will is doing much better.

“Will came in weighing around 98 pounds,” said Pelletier “A Dane of his stature should weight 135-140 lbs.”

Will has a long road to recovery, but Pelletier and SWGDR are doing what they can to help him. His medical costs are now in the thousands and his care is not over yet.

Will requires a specialty diet of canned food, enzymes, vitamins and freeze dried meat. Val Clows of Holistic for Pets has donated these items. She will also supply Will with Rx dry diet, when he is ready to transition to eating that type of food.

“Will is so determined to live,” said Eagan. “As long as he keeps fighting, we are going to be right there with him.”

If you would like to learn more about Will, contact SWGDR Facebook page. If you would like to help Will, donations can be sent to:

SWGDR
3005 65th Street E
Bradenton, FL 34208
West Coast Veterinary Center
c/o Will
7910 State Road 72
Sarasota, FL 34241
PayPal on the website at swgdr.org

News Link:-http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2013/05/local-rescue-group-sets-off-to-save-will-the-great-dane/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifeWithDogs+%28Life+With+Dogs%29

SWGDR web site:- http://www.swgdr.org/

Man Forced To Shoot His Own Dog After Seal Attack In Scotland

A CALL for a seal cull in one of Scotland’s nature reserves was made last night after a dog mauled by a seal had to be ­destroyed.

Matthew Will had to shoot his dog after it was attacked by a seal

• Dog owner forced to shoot pet after it was attacked by seal

Matthew Will said he had to shoot his black labrador, Fly, after it was severely injured by a bull seal in a stream on the Ythan estuary in Aberdeenshire.

Wild fowler Mr Will was shooting ducks when his three-year-old labrador ran into the water to retrieve a downed bird. Fly was dragged under the water and bitten by a seal more than twice the dog’s size.

It was the latest in a series of seal attacks on dogs at the estuary, which borders the Forvie National Nature Reserve, owned by Scottish Natural Heritage and home to more than 1,000 grey and common seals.

Last night, Audrey Forbes-Clarke, the fishery manager for the local Udny Trust, called for a licensed cull at the estuary to combat an “explosion” in seal numbers.

She warned it was only a matter of time before humans were attacked, declaring: “Children are paddling there in the ­summer and they will be fair game for the seals as well.”

Mr Will, 21, of Inverugie, ­Peterhead, had earlier spoken of his terror when his pet was attacked last Friday after it entered the Tarty Burn.

He said: “There was a sudden and terrific thrashing and howling in the water.

“This huge seal – more than twice the size of the dog – was flinging Fly around and pulling him under the water. I was horrified. The seal was enormous. It was terrible.”

Mr Will finally succeeded in driving off the seal and dragged his badly mutilated pet to the bank.

“Fly was horribly injured. Both his hind legs were completely crushed and mangled, his rib-cage smashed and his left eye torn out. He was pouring with blood and in spasms of agony,” said Mr Will.

Grief-stricken, Mr Will decided to shoot Fly rather than prolong his suffering.

Mrs Forbes-Clarke said that she had put up warning signs about the risk of seal attacks earlier this year after a Labrador owned by a local hotelier was bitten by a seal. Another seal attacked two dogs owned by a local woman.

Mrs Forbes-Clarke said: “What worries me most is the human factor. One of our regular fishermen was chased out of the water by a seal earlier this year and he said he has never been so terrified in all his life.”

She added that there had been an “explosion” in common and grey seal numbers in the ­estuary since the local coastal netting fishery, which had a license to shoot seals marauding their nets, was bought out.

“Every year the numbers are escalating because they are breeding and there is nothing and no-one to control them, and we desperately need a cull to control their numbers,” she said.

Callan Duck, a senior research scientist at the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University, said it was a “particularly unusual” incident.

He added: “Normally seals are not aggressive. I have never heard of anything like that at all. If I had a dog, I wouldn’t be worried about letting it go into the water if there were seals around. I would be more concerned about the dog scaring the seals.

News Link:-http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/calls-for-seal-cull-after-aberdeen-man-s-dog-mauled-by-bull-seal-1-2566386