Charlie among survivors at animal hospital

Corrie Connolly, a veterinarian at Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial, checks on "Charlie". The dog was found stray with a wound from a large chain. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Rebekah Julian, a veterinarian at Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial, holds up the large chain infused with hair and dried flesh residue that was removed from a dog that was found stray. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Corrie Connolly, a veterinarian at Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial, checks on "Charlie". The dog was found stray with a wound from a large chain. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Corrie Connolly, a veterinarian at Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial, points out the nodule of flesh that protruded through one of the links in the large chain that was around the dogs neck. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Corrie Connolly, a veterinarian at Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial, holds "Charlie". Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

The staff of Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial named this dog "Charlie" after it was brought to the hospitial from a person that found him stray. The dog had a large chain around its neck attached to nylon lead that was broken. The heavy chain had damaged the skin around the top of the dog's neck so severely that and open wound was caused and part of the flesh had pushed through one of the large links and cause area of decaying flesh and infection. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Corrie Connolly and Rebekah Julian, veterinarians at Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospitial, check on "Angel". The dog was found stray with a leg wound. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

The smell of decaying flesh still clung to the log chain and bull snap they had cut out of Charlie's neck.

The odor was overwhelming.

Drs. Corrie Connolly and Rebekah Julian had double-bagged the "collar" in plastic and saved it as evidence of how bad things were for Charlie, who is now trying to recover at the Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospital.

It's tough to say, but Charlie was a good candidate to be euthanized when he arrived.

With animals in this kind of condition, putting them to sleep often is an act of mercy.

He was malnourished, infested with internal parasites and threatened by heartworms. He weighed only 30 pounds — and should have been much heavier.

"He was so pitiful," Connolly says, "but he was so sweet."

A good Samaritan had brought Charlie to the hospital. That person had been feeding him for several days, unable to get close enough to catch him until last Thursday.

Because he had recently eaten, the veterinarians could not sedate Charlie as they attempted to remove the log chain — the kind used to pull things with big equipment. The bull snap that connected the links around Charlie's neck was meant for just that — bulls.

One of the hospital staff volunteered her bolt cutters, and the operation began.

"That sweet little dog just sat there while we used bolt cutters to remove the chain, which was amazing considering his flesh was grown into the links," Connolly says.

And there was that smell of dead flesh.

"He was just bathed in that smell," Connolly says. The hospital staff couldn't believe the dog's demeanor during what had to be a painful procedure. Someone at the hospital started calling him Charlie, and the name stuck.

The chain may have turned out to be the least of Charlie's problems. The heartworms are the biggest concern, Julian says.

Over the next eight weeks, he'll need three injections aimed at getting rid of all the worms.

"It's a critical time," Julian says.

Charlie already has been treated for the intestinal parasites. His neck will require some reconstructive surgery. The medicated bandage covering the red and raw wound has to be changed daily.

Charlie's recovery will be expensive. Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospital has set up "The Rescued Pet Fund" to accept donations toward the medical costs so both Charlie (and an abandoned boxer companion named Angel) eventually can be adopted.

These kinds of dogs usually are turned over to organizations such as the Humane Society or Faithful Friends, but Connolly says the groups are too overwhelmed now to handle animals with so many medical issues.

A sad byproduct of the economic recession has been the abandonment of pets and even families having to give up their healthy animal companions because they no longer can afford to feed and care for them.

Charlie is a handsome dog, mostly yellow with freckles around his nose. His eyes have a soulful, old-dog look to them, though his teeth suggest he's only about two years old, Connolly says.

He sat quietly as she undid his bandage and inspected the neck wound. The doctor reports that he has slowly been coming out of his shell, wagging his tail and acting more playful.

"It's going to take a lot of time and money to get him to an adoptable state," Connolly says.

A few doors up, Angel has a broken hind leg that mended on its own the wrong way, meaning it will have to be amputated. But dogs cope well with three legs, and Angel should have a happy life if someone adopts her.

She slobbered happily over Dr. Julian's face.

Charlie. Angel. The hospital has its own episode of "Charlie's Angels" playing out. It's television worth paying for.

Donations toward the medical treatments and recovery costs are being accepted at the Lazy 5 hospital and through "The Rescued Pet Fund," care of Lazy 5 Ranch Veterinary Hospital, 3002 S. Main St., Salisbury, NC 28147. The hospital's Web site is www.lazy5vets. com; its e-mail, info@ lazy5vets.com.