HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – A dog continues to receive care at a Grand Strand facility after “kids” dumped boiling water on the animal.
According to a post on the Pawleys Island-based All4Paws’ Facebook page, the organization received an urgent message from the Horry County shelter last Thursday about an abused dog picked up by animal control that was in desperate need of medical attention.
Horry County did not have a veterinarian available, so All4Paws officials set up a transport to their vet’s office at The Animal Hospital of SC, the post stated. When the dog arrived, “he was too terrified to even be touched.”
An examination revealed that the dog had been subjected to torture before and had burns in many different stages of healing.
“The next morning he had to be sedated and shaved to see the full extent of his injuries,” the Facebook post read. “We were horrified to see that even underneath areas of fur, he had old scars and burns.”
On Saturday, the dog, who staff started calling Khalid, began receiving treatments from a cold laser. Improvement was seen almost immediately.
Joyce Cikesh, a volunteer coordinator for All4Paws, said Tuesday that Khalid is continuing to improve. The plan is to put him up for adoption at some point down the road.
Allison Gillespie, the operations director at All4Paws said that will be in about six weeks.
She says it took Khalid some time to trust people after going through such a traumatic event.
“When he got to us, he was afraid we were going to hurt him, afraid to even be touched," Gillespie said. "And after the second morning, you can see, he rose up to meet my hand. Once we gave him some food, and he realized we were there to help him, he was so grateful immediately, and he’s been wonderful.”
She says he went through a lot of pain even though the burns were only first and second degree burns.
“Imagine burning your hand on a hot stove and then having it all over one side of your body," she said. "I mean I can’t really imagine.”
Gillespie says she can't imagine how someone could do something like this to a dog.
"I do hope they get in trouble for this because I don’t think it should go unpunished,” she said.
According to Cikesh, investigators are still trying to find the people who injured the dog.
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