The rescuers noticed that Sugar Snap looked like a larger dog, but only weighed 8.6 kg. She was so weak that she couldn’t walk or even lift her head; OTAT knew she needed help for a case like this.
“They are their own organization and have their own veterinarians, but in cases that require hospitalization, we see a lot of pets in their care,” Becky Ritchie, an emergency veterinarian with Premier Veterinary Group, tells PEOPLE.
When Sugar Snap arrived from OTAT to Premier Veterinary Group, Ritchie was there and remembers him being “super emaciated.”
“He was literally a skeleton. I don’t think I’ve ever touched a dog that was just bones. It hurt to even move him, and he could barely lift his head or stand up,” she adds.
While Sugar Snap was in critical condition, OTAT and Premier Veterinary Group were confident that the dog could recover with proper care. The shelter began fundraising for Sugar Snap’s treatment, which they knew would be expensive, as the puppy required several days of hospitalization.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(574x0:576x2):format(webp)/dog-adopted-vet-062624-4-480e5546a26a4b9eb54be96e6a53a732.jpg)
Sugar Snap during her hospitalization. Courtesy of Becky Ritchie
Ultimately, OTAT raised enough to cover Sugar Snap’s medical bill, which totaled more than $40,000, the highest hospital bill in the organization’s history.
“And that’s with the discount we give them,” Ritchie notes.
The hospital bill covered 20 days of hospitalization and treatment, which was how long it took for Sugar Snap to be strong enough to move into foster care.
At first, she was doing pretty well. But then, a couple of days after she was admitted, her condition worsened. She became very ill. She contracted infections and battled sepsis. She needed blood transfusions, plasma transfusions, feeding tubes, and all sorts of medications, says Ritchie of what led to Sugar Snap’s extended stay at the veterinary hospital.
In addition to medications and transfusions, a DNA test from Embark Dog contributed to Sugar Snap’s treatment. Knowing Sugar Snap’s different breeds helped rescuers determine her ideal weight.