Matted Dog With Stinking Cast Around His Leg Brought To Shelter, Rescuers Shocked By What They Find

“Someone brought this dog in and he smells to high heaven.” That’s how Stray Rescue of St. Louis introduced Cedar, a neglected dog they received at their shelter on Monday. Poor Cedar’s fur was so matted that his ears were stuck to his face and his privates were stuck to his underside. He also had a bandaged cast on his leg from which they could smell something bad, something seriously infected.

Two things were clear to Stray Rescue of St. Louis. “You can be any breed and be abused,” they wrote on a post on Facebook. And second, they weren’t sure how long the dirty blue bandage has been on his leg but “No clinic would put a cast on a dog in this disgusting condition.”

They immediately decided to clear the mats off and clean him up. The team set to work and ended up shaving two pounds of hair of of him.

Underneath all the matted fur, Cedar was very skinny.

The next thing they did was sedate him to see what was going on under the cast and it was terrible. Cedar’s skin was literally pulled away from his leg.

The rescuers figure that Cedar may have had a smaller injury but the “treatment” he got ended up making things a lot worse. “Per the x-ray, he does not have a broken leg, which leads us to believe he had some torn ligaments. In most cases, torn ligaments can heal on their own. He was probably limping and someone wrapped his leg thinking that would help it,” they wrote on their website. “But sadly, with his leg being wrapped for so long and never changed, the wrap has done so much more damage than any injury alone could.”

They are hoping that there will be enough skin for his wound to heal and enough good tissue to save his leg. For now, they will clean the wound, give Cedar antibiotics and the medical care he so desperately needs so he can begin his healing journey.

With summer donations become a trickle, but Stray Rescue of St. Louis has a record number of pets to look after, including dogs like Cedar. If you can help please donate here.