TW: Animal neglect/abuse

”Ooh, you’re just the cutest li’l snugglebutt, booplesnoot, baby, yes you are!” Shelly cooed shamelessly at the little rescued hognose that was busily winding through her fingers. It was important to keep the little guy socialized, now that she’d managed to get him used to people. Poor little thing, he’d been a mess when he’d been surrendered to the shelter. At least she could take pride in having helped nurse him back into proper hognose health. Glancing at the clock, she sighed. Playtime was over for the little snake, but he had a nice, clean enclosure and she’d put a few new enrichment items in there. He’d be fine.

Gently placing the snake back, she heard a fellow volunteer chuckle behind her, “Shelly girl, not playing with the danger noodle is not the end of the world. He’ll be fine and you’ll live. C’mon, I need your help wrangling a new arrival.”

Earls perking over the way ‘new arrival’ was said, Shelly stood up and nodded. She knew Yvonne would never call her for help unless it was really needed. Because Yvonne was the most frighteningly competent woman that Shelly had ever met in her short life. If she needed help, things were going to be bad.

Apparently, she was going to be having feelings tonight when she got home.

Following after the older woman, Shelly couldn’t help but think how lucky she’d been to get this gig. Sure, it was only volunteer work since she was in school, but it was good for her and she knew she was good for the animals. And as her dad liked to point out, this would look AMAZING on her college applications. If she went to college, of course. Dad was good about not pushing.

She was pulled abruptly from her thoughts by the smell more than anything. She categorized it as the smell of neglect. A mix of dirt, body fluids, sometimes body solids, and illness. Rarely blood, though this time would seem to be one of those rare cases. Neglect smelled bad usually, but this. This was ramped up to 11 and she couldn't’ help swallowing hard several times, to try and keep from adding to it with her own puke. Eyes watering, she noted how Yvonne’s jaw tightened and knew that this was going to be bad.

The exam room already had the resident vet there along with a giant mass of matted, filthy fur and one very terrified volunteer. Shelly recognized the new kid only by how new he was and felt pity. He probably hadn’t expected to encounter a Worst Case Scenario his first week. But Shelly knew this dance. Seizing gloves, an oversized blanket and face shield, she got close to the dog and bit back the need to sob. With a nod, she got the blanket on the floor and started working to coax the dog close. She could see hints of a chain twined within the mats and wondered if this had been a voluntary surrender or if Authorities had been involved.

“Poor baby,” she murmured in her softest, most soothing voice. “I know, it’s scary, but we’re going to help you. You can trust me, I won’t ever hurt you.”

They needed the dog calm so they could work and the new kid hadn’t been able to calm himself enough to calm the dog. That was fair. This was hard every time. But Shelly had been wrangling animals since she ‘d been a tot. The words she said didn’t matter except to the people in the room. What mattered to the dog was her tone. And she put every ounce of love and care in her tiny body into it.

And this dog was absolutely terrified and hurting. This was going to take time.

“What happened to him, Doc?” she asked quietly. Neglect certainly. Fur didn’t turn into mats like this overnight. That smell didn’t happen overnight either. This was ******** evil.

“Chained in a tiny back room of an abandoned house and left to rot, as far as the rescuers could tell. They think there’s a leg injury under all the hair and filth, but they couldn’t verify. They only got it out because the poor thing couldn’t run from them.”

That explained Yvonne’s clenched jaw. And Doc’s grim expression. Okay then. She could do this. This poor baby wouldn't be eating out of her hand. Yet. But she was going to get him calm and stick by him to the end.

Still talking, Shelly moved slowly, making sure the dog could see her at all times. Sitting on the edge of the blanket, she positioned herself so that the dog wouldn't feel threatened and held out a handful of liver treats. If he’d been left behind like that, he’d be hungry. And as long as she stayed still and gentle, he’d approach. And finally. Finally, she saw movement from the corner of her eye from the dog. Her arm was screaming, but she held it steady and waited. Felt crusted, damp whiskers brush her gloved hand. She was NOT going to cry. Not yet. She re-focused and did her best to radiate utter calm and welcome. Even if the smell was making her stomach flop like a dying fish. She was going to help this dog.

“That’s a good baby. Those are good, aren’t they? You can have as many as you want, yes you can.”

The new kid caught the hint and slid the treat close to her. Grinning in thanks, she grabbed more and continued to tidbit the dog.

She had expected to be tidbiting and reassuring for some time before being allowed to touch the dog. That was usually how it went. But this dog, apparently realizing it was finally safe, seemed to melt, whimpering and pushing it’s poor body up against Shelly. She knew this sort of thing happened on occasion. The animal would know that it was with good people in a good place and trust them. But this was the first she’d ever witnessed it or had it happen to her. With the vet’s approving nod, Shelly moved carefully, draping an arm over the dog and stoking the matted fur. And it relaxed into the touch, crying softly and wheezing.

“Poor, poor baby. We’re going to get you fixed up.”

The dog was wary when Yvonne and the vet came near, but allowed them to carefully examine. It seemed to trust Shelly and was willing to trust who she did. And that was all they needed to help. Within moments, the dog was up on a gurney and given a mild sedative. They’d xray him and then clean him up and treat from there. Shelly stayed close by to help, only taking a break to call her parents and let them know what was going on.

“Bring him home if and when you can, Shelly Belly,” her mom had said. “We can foster him while he heals. Brick and Brack will love him, I’m sure.”

THat had been more than enough to release all the tears she’d been holding in. But no one at the shelter gave her s**t for it. They knew. They all knew how it felt to need to help an animal. And they’d all seen their own bad cases at one point. They all knew how it was.

By the time the xrays came back and showed that the left hind leg was indeed badly injured and infected, Shelly was ready to call out sick from school the next day in order to stay. The leg had to go, they couldn’t save that. Antibiotics were quickly set up via IV and the order to shave the dog came down. It took hours with multiple puke breaks, but between Shelly, Yvonne and New Kid, they got the matted fur shaved away and could see the chain collar where skin was trying to grow over in places. So that would be one more thing for the vet to take care of in the OR. And SHE was so skinny. The overgrown fur and matting had been so bad that they hadn’t been able to tell it was a girl until now. Though her breed was still a mystery.

Bending over the gurney, Shelly smooshed the dog’s face gently since that was the only area that didn’t seem to have some type of injury. She had to go have that leg removed and Shelly couldn’t follow her in. But she’d for ******** damn sure be waiting for when the dog came out!

“Good job, girl,” Yvonne’s voice was raspy. “Knew you’d convince that little lady to trust us. You can be proud of yourself for what you did. Now go home and get some sleep. It’s late and she won’t be ready for visitors for a while. Go on, git!”

Laughing a little and holding up her hands in mock surrender, Shelly gave in. Yvonne was right and Shelly was exhausted.

“Fine, but I’ll be back here first thing in the morning and you can’t convince me otherwise!”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Shelly girl. Now go get some rest. You earned it.”

Word Count =1535