Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/blind-dog-sitka/

When Lulu disappeared for 3 weeks in Alaska, her family feared they might never see their elderly dog again. “She means everything,” said the senior dog’s owner, Ted Kubacki. “I have five daughters and they’re 4 to 13 years old, so they’ve spent every day of their life with that dog.”

Complicating matters was that Lulu was also blind, putting her at an extreme disadvantage in a huge state filled with bears and other wild animals. “She’s just so helpless, and you kind of imagined that she can’t get real far because she can’t see,” Kubacki told the Daily Sitka Sentinel.

For weeks, the family scoured their hometown of Sitka, Alaska, in search of their lost family member, but to no avail. After Lulu had been missing for 3 weeks, her heartbroken family began to fear they’d never see their beloved pet again.

But then one day, a construction crew working near Lulu’s house spotted what they mistook for a bear in the woods. “They got a closer look and they realized that it was a dog, and they got her out of there,” Kubacki said.

But although Lulu was finally safe, her 3 weeks in the wild had exacted a terrible toll. In addition to being very dirty, matted, and extremely dehydrated, the emaciated golden retriever was also dangerously thin. Lulu, who had once weighed 80 pounds, had lost nearly 3/4 of her body weight during her 3 weeks away.

Lulu’s family was ecstatic to have her back home, but the poor dog was so weak and exhausted that she could barely lift her head. “She’d been through the wringer,” Kubacki said.

Thankfully, Lulu’s woeful condition quickly improved with food, rest, and medical care. “Slowly but surely, she started eating and she was kind of able to pick her head up,” said Kubacki, whose family and friends helped cover Lulu’s medical bills. Soon Lulu was back to her old loving self.

The Sikta man knew Lulu was finally feeling better when “she propped herself up on her front paws by herself, like nestled into me and gave me a kiss and wagged her tail and it was just so great,” Kubacki said. “We have our family member home.”

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog