FORT SMITH, Ark. — In the last ten days, a local animal shelter has seen an increase in injured animals including one dog with a broken jaw and two leg amputations.
Now, the nonprofit is asking for help from the community.
Scrabble was brought to Kitties and Kanines Shelter in Fort Smith by some good samaritans who saw the dog roaming around at Hardscrabble Country Club.
“He has a big cut on his lip and his lower jaw was broken, completely snapped in half," said Peggy Griffin, pharmacy tech.
The one-and-a-half-year-old bird dog mix also had several teeth missing. He’s healing now after getting several stitches and having his jaw wired.
“We can only speculate but we don’t have any solid idea of what happened, no," Griffin said.
Two-year-old terrier mix Cisco is another medical case.
Malnourished and dragging his front paw, he doesn’t appear to be in any pain, but his leg will be amputated this week.
"It’s an old injury that has long since been healed and I recently found out it’s been a year since it happened," Griffin said.
One-year-old Shepard-mix Silvyie has already had her surgery. She was found with a broken leg and bones sticking out by animal control.
“She’s doing great. It doesn’t seem to slow her down at all. She gets around just fine," Griffin said
Scrabble, Cisco and Silvyie are just three of the medical cases at the shelter. There are also 10 dogs that are heartworm positive.
While the shelter often has medical cases, this number in such a short period of time is higher than normal.
“Those are three surgeries that cost quite a bit of money and our heartworm treatment that’s a minimum of $200 per dog or put to $400 per dog and there’s 10 of them," said Kitties and Kanines Shelter Director, Gae Von Hoover.
Donations are needed to help animals like Scrabble, Cisco and Silvyie get the care they need and into a safe and loving home.
If you would like to donate to the shelter click here.
All of the dogs featured will eventually be available for adoption from the shelter after they’ve had time to heal.