Loyal canine’s tongue ripped out
A dog owner from the Bambelela Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Centre outside Bela-Bela recently made a horrific discovery when she found her loyal Rottweiler in a distressed state.
Belinda Langlois, active member at the centre and owner of Cleo, the Rottweiler, told The Post that the horrific incident happened on Tuesday 4 May, after Cleo and her sibling, Leo, went on an excursion to the nearby mountain on the grounds of the centre.
“I heard one of the dogs howling in agony and I ran up the mountain to check on their welfare. Both dogs came towards me and I could see that Cleo’s mouth was covered in blood,” said Langlois.
“We opened her mouth and saw her tongue was ripped out.”
The staff made attempts to stop the bleeding, whilst Cleo was rushed to a local veterinarian. Langlois said a colleague had then gone up the mountain and by luck discovered Cleo’s tongue, with the hope that it could be stitched back and then rushed after them into town.
Unfortunately the operation was unsuccessful and it became clear that Langlois was facing a difficult decision to either keep Cleo or to have her euthanized.
“With a lot of Facebook support from all over the world, I came to the conclusion that I will take the risk and give her a second chance and see if she can survive this horrific ordeal.”
Cleo pulled through after a few days of intensive care at the veterinary clinic and returned to the farm.
“Once we stopped here at Bambelela, Cleo ran straight to the water and started drinking. We observed that she started to eat her dog food pellets by picking them up and by tilting her head and tossing them down her throat,” she said.
“Cleo even gained 800 g since the incident.”
Langlois stated that they are still baffled as to what happened to Cleo on the mountain that day. They can only speculate and many ideas and theories are formulated.
“For us, it will always remain a mystery for what really happened. All of our dogs are so used to nature and have coexisted for as long as I have been here,” said Langlois.
“There is nothing for me to learn from this as I wouldn’t change a thing for my dogs. I want my dogs to have freedom running around the farm and to be happy. All of my dogs are sterilized and have no reason to wander off. Living on a Bushveld farm has the risk of dangerous wild life living amongst us, but I feel it is safer than the hazards of living in town with traffic.”
Cleo’s diet has changed. She has more frequent feedings and we monitor her water consumption as this is vital for the digestion of her food.
We rinse her mouth twice a day with diluted salt water to keep the scars from becoming infected.
Langlois said she wants to give her heart felt gratitude to everybody who assisted during the ordeal and to all those people who motivated her to give Cleo a second chance. A special word of thanks to the people who donated money to settle the vet bills.
“I must thank the local veterinarian who went over and above her calling to save my beautiful Cleo. Although the ordeal was a huge shock, I felt coveted by all the support we received.”
