Chester Moor, UK - In mid-December, the RSPCA (England & Wales) published before and after photos of poor Lola the dog. Her transformation is truly something to behold!
When Krissy Raine went to see Lola again, she thought there had been a misunderstanding.
The RSPCA's animal welfare officer had brought in an Akita dog with a beautiful coat.
Raine had helped rescue what she thought was another pup in a catastrophic condition a few weeks earlier. When she heard it was the same dog, she couldn't believe her eyes.
Lola was emaciated to begin with, her coat very thin, and her head looked particularly bad. There was hardly any fur there, but it was also totally encrusted in something that seemed almost concrete-like.
"She just didn’t look like a dog at all – it was like nothing I have ever seen," Raine confessed, according to The Dodo.
The extremely neglected Lola had been rescued from a property by the RSPCA.
The poor creature then came to the RSPCA in Chester Moor, where vets immediately gave her intensive care. Raine believed at the time that the four-legged friend wasn't going to make it.
"I really could not tell what breed of dog she was with all the scabs covering her face. It looked almost like she had dipped her head in concrete," said the animal welfare campaigner, describing her first dramatic impressions.
The vets treated the dog with medication and numerous baths, which led to astonishing success.
Lola the dog makes astonishing recovery!
When Raine enquired about her progress a few weeks later, she couldn't believe it.
"I went to check on Lola’s progress at the center a couple of weeks later, and they brought a Japanese Akita dog to me," Raine said.
"I said, 'That’s lovely – can I see my dog now?' I had no idea it was her; she was completely different! I was in tears seeing her so normal and happy."
However, it wasn't just the fur that came back, but also Lola's zest for life.
"She used to have a blank stare and terror in her face, but now she seemed happy, and her personality was coming out," said the animal rights activist.
"Day by day, more personality came out – and also a bit of attitude – but it filled me with so much joy. I really didn’t think we would save her when I first saw how bad she was."
Lola has now been placed with a family, where she is finally living the happy dog life the RSPCA team would have wished for her from the start.