LIFE IS GOOD: Tank, pictured with Bella O'Brien, is back home and feeling great.
Tank, a young French mastiff, who spent six months at Otaki's Helping You Helping Animals shelter receiving treatment for a near-fatal bout of mange, is back home with his adoring Whangarei family.
It was an emotional scene when Nicole Ruwhiu and partner Cody O'Brien met their well-again dog at the shelter.
"We were over the moon when we saw him," Nicole said.
"He had grown so much bigger and so much healthier.
"His personality was back.
"He farts a lot, though. I forgot about that - he started in the car when we were just around the corner from Huha and I thought, 'oh no, we've got another nine hours of this'."
Helping You Helping Animals (Huha) founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie said it was an emotional moment letting the Dogue de Bordeaux go.
"But his reaction to Nicole and Cody, the minute they got out of the car, was amazing.
"There was such a strong connection between Tank and them.
"He was so delighted to see them.
"He just ran around and looked like a show pony showing off.
"It was an amazing experience to know that family would be whole again and that we'd done everything we could to help them."
Nicole said Tank was 8 months old when he swallowed a corn cob, which had to be surgically removed by a vet.
He recovered from the surgery but three months later had eyelift surgery after getting entropion, which saw his eyelids turn inward, forcing his eyelashes and skin to rub against the eye surface.
"And then he started getting these random rashes, so I took him to the vet and they said he had become allergic to a weed called wandering jew, which made his immune system drop."
He was put on antibiotics and steriods but the steriods compromised him and dropped his immune system, allowing mange, a disease caused by parasitic mites, to take hold.
With debt piling up, and Tank's condition so bad, putting him down had become a distinct possibility, until a friend of Nicole's told her about Huha and a case they had done before with a dog called Shortcake who had mange, although not as bad as Tank's condition.
In a last-ditch effort, the family turned to Huha.
Tank was flown to Kapiti Coast Airport, courtesy of a kind donation, and was picked up by Carolyn, who was shocked with what she saw.
"I have never seen a dog so close to death."
She took him straight to Levin and Horowhenua Vets and then made the call to try to save his life.
Treatment has included a chemical drench, antibiotics, skin-support diet courtesy of Royal Canin, and a special shampoo called Whoop Itch and Ouch, which had been developed by Carolyn.
After six months' care and attention, the mange parasites were nuked one by one, he gained weight, and his hair grew back, although a bit fuzzier than what it was before.
Though Tank is fit and healthy again, a close eye will be kept on him by his family as well as Huha, to ensure the condition doesn't rear its head again.
"We can't thank Huha enough," Nicole said.
"They have been amazing and without them, Tank wouldn't be here today."
