Miami, Florida - When a small Dachshund dog was brought to an animal shelter, it was initially thought to be a poor, sick stray, but shortly afterwards, a much more tragic truth was to come to light.

In mid-November, the Dachshund Rescue South Florida organization announced that it had taken in a stray named Wonka.

While every story of a homeless dog is a heartfelt one for the staff, this case was particularly sad as it was revealed that Wonka was already 16 years old.

In human years, the sweet little chocolate Dachshund was already between 84 and 121 years old!

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At this advanced age, his rescuers rightly wondered how he had made it so long on the streets.

But then the tide turned when a microchip was discovered under his skin.

The organization immediately raised its hopes that Wonka might just have escaped.

"Maybe this little man's family was desperately looking for him and we could re-unite them," wrote Dachshund Rescue South Florida on Facebook.

But disillusionment followed immediately: the animal shelter tried several times to reach the Dachshund's family in various ways – but never received a reply.

The dog had been abandoned by his former owners, so there was no interest in his whereabouts.

"16 years of love and loyalty discarded. Heartbreaking," said the animal rescuers in their post.

Added to this was the animal's worrying health condition.

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"He had to have so many teeth removed," a spokesperson told Newsweek. "The vet said it was the worst mouth she had ever seen."

Fortunately, Wonka the dog is now on the road to recovery and is currently living in a foster home.

"We haven’t offered him for adoption yet, but will be soon," the representative added. "We hope there is someone out there who wants to spoil him for the remainder of his life."