Written by Cheryl Lyn, Founder of Cheryl Lyn’s Rescue Organisation
Photos supplied by Nicole van Rensburg
The bewildered puppy lay collapsed on a board in the street in a low-cost housing area. The vulnerable four-month-old was totally stiff and unable to move, his body covered in sores, maggots, and a mysterious wet sticky substance.
Cheryl Lyn, founder of Cheryl Lyn’s Rescue Organisation, had been alerted to his plight by a kind passer-by and rushed him to Vet-Clin in Table View.
Paralysed pup
The skinny white pup was able to blink and eat if fed by hand, but nothing more. Essentially, he could only make voluntary movements of the head, and very little at that. IV fluids were immediately started and he was gently bathed, then settled comfortably in a warm cage. The next day, the pup was able to move his tail and head slightly.
He was diagnosed with acute canine polyradiculoneuritis (an inflammatory nerve disease, similar to Guillain-Barré syndrome in humans), likely caused by scavenging in dirty gutters, etc.
There was a long road ahead of him.
Dog in therapy
Pat van Rensburg, the veterinary nurse at Vet-Clin, kindly took him home for intensive nursing, physiotherapy and good nutrition. Equine-librium Therapy Clinic Cape Town generously offered two weeks of intensive physiotherapy to get Lunghi moving again – watch them in action here: https://www.facebook.com/CherylLynsRescueOrganisation/videos/487688723051482.
The Van Rensburgs named him Lunghi. He lived with Pat’s family, who took him for daily physiotherapy and nursed him at home. Slowly, over weeks, he started moving his toes, head, and then started to wiggle. He gained weight fast and became happier and more confident.
It took about two months for Lunghi to be able to start walking again, albeit with wobbly legs. Watch his first steps here https://www.facebook.com/CherylLynsRescueOrganisation/videos/344725080973491.
Since then, he’s gone from strength to strength. “Little” Lunghi has grown from a scared, emaciated 9kg bundle of bones to a long-legged 30kg lovable “brute”. He lives with Pat and family now and has fully recovered. Thank you very much to everyone at Vet-Clin and Equine-librium, the supporters who contributed to his care and shared their prayers, and his amazing foster (now forever) family for everything you did to save Lunghi.
Nicole van Rensburg, Pat’s daughter, takes up the story...
Lunghi came home with mom “for the weekend” as he needed to be turned every 20 minutes because he was unable to do so on his own (this is what the pressure sores were from).
Between my mom, Pat, and my dad, Freddie, they’d take shifts in helping and turning him, lifting him onto the grass and cleaning him after he’d done his business.
After a while, he started showing improvement – he’d start trying to move his head towards treats and twitching his toes.
We’d load him into a little trailer and pull him along with us so he could enjoy “walks” with the other dogs.
When he was kindly offered therapy by Equine-librium, my mom would drop him off every morning with his lunchbox and my dad would fetch him at about 4pm. Once he learned how to use his voice, they requested my dad fetch him just after lunch as he made too much noise. He had extensive physio done, including daily laser as well as hydrotherapy.
A few weeks went on and my dad took him outside to enjoy some time in the sun. He quickly went inside and, when he got back, Lunghi had somehow made it halfway across the lawn. He got stronger and stronger each day and eventually one evening my dad held him up on all fours and my mom called him and, with assistance, he took his first official steps.
From there on he just kept getting stronger and stronger, his little steps became walks and then longer walks, and eventually runs.
My parents already have three dogs – two rescued Pit Bull crosses, Cody and Paisley, and a rescue Dachshund-Jack Russell cross, Jimmy – who ALL sleep on the bed with them. We’ve fostered many dogs before; in fact, Paisley was meant to be our last “foster fail” (she was bottle-fed from a week old during Covid, so it was difficult – very difficult – to let her go).
And then came Lunghi! The agreement in the household was that, as soon as Lunghi was strong enough, they’d let Cheryl know she could start trying to find him a home. My dad would say: “when he can stand…”, then, when he could stand, it changed to “when he can walk…”, and then “when he could run”, and then “run super-fast”. We joked that dad was going to eventually say: “when he should be able to jump and clear a two-metre wall and land on one paw, with a little spin around at the end, THEN we can give the go-ahead to find his new home”!
I think it was different for my mom and dad as none of us kids are in the house anymore and it was like having a new-born baby that couldn’t do anything for himself. My dad was at home with Lunghi every day, and I think he enjoyed the little routine he had going with him. When my mom came home, she’d check on him, give him his daily meds, and do some at-home physio. Each time I visited, they’d almost do an improvement show, demonstrating all the new things he could do again.
I think that after two weeks of him being there, we already knew it was going to be a foster fail.
Today, Lunghi is the largest of all his new brothers and sister. He also sleeps on the bed, he still has a loud mouth, and he hates flies – I think this is because when he was lying paralysed on the pavement they’d sit on him and he couldn’t do anything about it. He absolutely loves his walks and he loves to swim. He has such a love for life, and I think this is because his life nearly ended and he was given a second chance at it. He doesn’t understand personal space at all. He absolutely loves everyone and is amazing with the kids as well.
Sometimes, when he’s leaping from couch to couch, barking, hoping to get the attention of the people walking past the house to see if they could possibly be a new friend for him, we often think of when he would lie there so silently, unable to move; but it’s difficult to remember that time, because we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Lunghi is their last “foster fail”… or is he?
Our family thank Cheryl Lyn’s Rescue Organisation for going to fetch him when he would have died there on the pavement!
Watch Nicole’s video of Lunghi’s incredible transformation here: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.v.rensburg/videos/705317731327163
