Matted Shih Tzu and pregnant guinea pig rescued as Hamilton area shelters warn of rising pet abandonments
CBC
When Tammy Gaboury received a photo of a severely matted Shih Tzu, she wasn't sure what she was looking at.
"You couldn't tell her head from her tail," said Gaboury, animal care manager at the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society.
The senior dog, found by railroad tracks, was so matted she couldn't move. Her nails curled into her matted hair.
Shelter staff promptly named her Angel.
"Animals are so amazingly resilient … she experienced the worst and she's still so gentle and so sweet," she said.
"She's our shelter angel."
Gaboury said more dogs are being abandoned in rural areas of the Niagara region, with animal shelters now fuller than ever.
"The dog numbers are probably the most challenging that we've ever seen in shelter," she said.
Animal shelters and agencies in other parts of Canada have reported a similar increase in pet abandonments this year.
Rising costs of living, including pet care, may be to blame.
"Our pet food prices have gone up, our veterinarian care has gone up, and people are just having a hard time affording the very basics right now," she said.
Gaboury said it must have taken years of neglect for Angel's hair to get that way.
"The amount of suffering that she probably was feeling and pain is unimaginable," said Gaboury.
The groomer who helped cut Angel's hair, Vanessa De Prophetis, also known as content creator Girl with the Dogs, said in a video she spent two and a half hours to remove the hair.
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