A man was out for a stroll along a canal when he spotted what looked like a pile of old rags discarded next to a bench. As he got closer, he was shocked to realize it was actually an extremely matted dog.
The poor dog was unable to move and seemed so defeated. The man took him home and then rushed him to the vet, who later transferred him into the care of the RSPCA.
“When the man who found Morris first came across him he was laying next to a bench near the canal,” Ryan King, an animal rescuer inspector with the RSPCA, said in a press release. “As he wasn’t moving, he thought the poor pet was already dead. On closer inspection, he realised he was breathing but his fur was so heavy and matted he appeared unable to move and he was obviously terrified.”
The dog, later named Morris, was blind in one eye and suffering from cataracts in the other, and the vets were unfortunately unable to save his sight. His lack of vision was probably partly why Morris couldn’t move out by the canal, and instead waited for a kind passerby to stop and help him. His wildly matted fur was another reason he was unable to move, and his friends at the vet took care of that problem as soon as they could.
“While also at the hospital, staff had to shave off 1.3 kilograms of matted fur — which was 10 [percent] of his overall body weight — as this was preventing him from moving and causing him suffering,” King said. “Then he began to feel more comfortable and soon went on to make an amazing transformation.”
Once Morris was shaved and cleaned up, he began his long healing journey in the loving care of the RSPCA. A few months later, he was ready to find his forever home, and it wasn’t long before he found his perfect match.
“We knew he was blind when we took him in, but I have the perfect home for him and he can get in and out of the garden very easily, so it is no problem for him,” Josephine Newhall, Morris’ new mom, said in a press release. “I have also found out he is deaf too — but he doesn’t let these disabilities hold him back at all.”
Morris is loving life in his new home and even has a girlfriend now, his mom’s daughter’s dog, Ruby. He was so defeated when he was first found, but now he has a new lease on life.
“He is great company, and when you think where he has come from, it is a miracle he is still here,” Newhall said.
