Three lurcher puppies who were left in an “appalling" state in County Limerick have been rescued by Limerick Animal Welfare (LAW), who are located in Kilfinane.
The puppies came into the care of the voluntary organisation after being found last week in Fedamore.
All the pups are suffering from malnutrition and worms, according to LAW’s Marion Fitzgibbon, who said that the centre is almost at full capacity.
“We have a right scatter of pups at the moment. We’ve puppies coming in every day,” Ms Fitzgibbon said. “The condition of the lurchers is appalling, they have very bad mange that they most likely inherited from their mother. Luckily there is a new treatment for mange but it will take a couple of weeks for it to work and they are highly infectious at the moment.
One problem with mange, says Ms Fitzgibbon is that it lowers the pups’ immune systems “dreadfully”.
“You have to be careful because they might spread the mites to other dogs so they are totally isolated.”
Puppy season is well and truly upon us said Ms Fitzgibbon, who added that “all the bitches who were in season before Christmas are having their puppies now, as well as the puppies that people decide they don’t want.”
The centre had acquired four puppies by lunchtime last Monday alone, she added. “We had more left in a box outside the sanctuary.”
A good Samaritan picked up a recent vet bill on behalf of the charity, a gesture that LAW very much appreciated, Ms Fitzgibbon added. “This would have been to cover a very badly injured dog.”
She added that the centre’s vet bill went up €30,000 from the previous year due to the number of dogs that LAW is taking in, the escalating vet bills and necessary operations.
