Vet Removes 9-Pounds Of Matted Fur From 11-Pound Neglected Dog

photo credit: Nebraska Humane Society / Facebook

Humane Society Called Over Neglected Dog

Nebraska Humane Society (NEHS) got a call about a neglected dog living with a hoarder in a house full of filth piled up to the ceiling.

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Humane Society Workers Arrive At The Home

When NEHS arrived at the home they couldn’t find the dog named Ellie Mae due to the severe mess. Service workers reported they didn’t discover her until they saw what looked like a “container of dirty mops” move and realized it was actually a dog.

Ellie Mae’s matted fur covered her body so much that she was unable to walk. All she could do is lay there stuck in her dirt and feces infested coat so they picked her up and immediately transported her to the humane society.

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Taking Her To The Animal Shelter

Once they got her to the shelter the staff members said she was completely unrecognizable, they didn’t even know she was a dog at first but after learning who she was and her story they decided to remove the hair in hopes of saving the poor thing.

They laid her on an operation table, put her under anesthesia and placed a breathing tube in her mouth. Quickly and carefully they got to work cutting the stinky fur off and it took 9 hours to fully remove it.

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“As our team clipped away, they found something extraordinary. Ellie Mae’s legs were pink with blood flow. The added matting and length were seven-inch toenails that were cocooned in hair, feces and years of grit,” a shelter worker posted on Twitter.

After they removed all the fur from Ellie Mae she went from weighing 20 pounds to weighing 11 pounds. For years she walked around with a whopping 9 pounds of matted smelly hair and now she was finally free. She even started walking again within 5 hours after the removal.

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The shelter reported that this was the “worst case of matting” they have ever seen. A medical checkup was ran afterwards and the shelter workers were surprised to see that she didn’t have any other health issues. NEHS representative, Pam Wise said her hard shell of hair must have provided Ellie Mae protection from parasites, infections, and diseases.

With her hair gone, nails clipped and makeover finish, they could tell she was some sort of a Shih Tzu mix and put her up for adoption. A few weeks later Ellie Mae was adopted by a 91-year-old woman named Bette Mae who said it “was love at first sight” when she saw her and according to The Ron Project, the two lived happily ever after.