CHESTER, SC........Ava is a sweet, 18 month old emaciated Pitbull that was used as BAIT.  Both sides of her Face are almost ripped off.  Her Sinus Cavity is broken. Her throat is ripped.  This poor dog has been to HELL and back.   AVA was picked up as a stray and brought to Animal Control in Chester, SC.  Based on how badly infected her wounds are, she had to have been on her own for several days begging for someone, anyone to help and show her KINDNESS.  Sweet AVA was almost MAULED to death.  Her entire face, neck and front of her body have been ripped and torn from hundreds of bites. She has chunks of skin hanging from her face that have exposed her teeth and jawbone.  I am shocked she is still alive.  She is skin and bones on top of all the injuries.   When we got the call from Animal Control and her pictures, we knew we were the Last Resort  for her.  No one else had stepped up and she was going to be put down the minute we said NO.  As full as we are, there was no way I could turn my back on her  With all of her injuries, her TAIL never stopped wagging.  We sent someone immediately to pick her up and had surgeons on call to immediately get her stable and into surgery the minute she arrived.  The doctors and vet. techs worked tirelessly into the night to clean out as much infection as they could and find some viable tissue so they could begin the restoration of her face.  Her entire body is infected from all of the open wounds that have gone untreated for so long.  Ava will have to have several more surgeries before we are done with the restoration of her face. Her recovery is going to be a long process.  When you have this much damage, it is a wait and see process from one surgery to the next.  As tissue dies, it has to be removed so it does not poison the body and viable tissue found that will granulate with other viable tissue.  Ava is stable and smiling.  For an animal to be in the worst shape imaginable and still want to shower you with kisses is amazing.  She has a strong will to live or she would not have survived all the pain and suffering she has endured in her young life.

We know how difficult it is to see an animal that looks the way Ava does.  We are very sensitive to that.  I have put the least shocking picture at the top and  only a few others are at the bottom. We are not into shocking people but do know we have to show some portion of her injuries.   DO NOT go to the bottom of the page if you are not prepared for the pictures.  The ones on the bottom are extremely GRAPHIC.

Thanks for caring and sharing with your animal loving friends.

Ava had her first series of surgeries and is now healing.  She will have several more surgeries but not until her infections are gone and the tissue she lost has begun to granulate.  Her days are filled with lots of washes to clear as much of the infections on her face as possible. She is comfortable and still wagging her tail.  The swelling will start to go down over the next couple of days as the dead tissue is removed. 

We post updates daily on our Facebook page.  Please, follow her progress there so you get her updates the minute we post them.

AVA Update....Our Sweet Ava is is not feeling the best this morning because of all the pressure we have to put on her face to flush out all of the infection she has. This is critical for her to survive this. Antibiotics taken internally can only do so much when you have this many bite wounds on your face. She has to have this done all through the course of the day, every day until the fluid runs clear. As you can see from the picture, that is still not the case. As the infection goes away, the wounds start to get smaller and smaller until the wounds have sealed up. That is a natural process the body goes through. It will not seal an infection in as long as it is draining. We are helping the process along by doing the flushes. Her Spirits are great and she is getting outside and walking around. The next few weeks are going to be hard on her because we have to be so aggressive with getting rid of the infections. The swelling is going down and her right eye has begun to open up. She is getting lots of love and kisses and treats all through the day to let her know she is safe and in good hands. We will try and post another update later on if there is a change . Thanks for caring.

Our sweet girl is doing wonderful.  The worst is over for her and she is on the road to recovery.  Her face has almost stopped draining.  She is healing so well that we are going to do more surgery on her the end of the week.  Sweet and playful does not even begin to describe how adorable our little Angel is.  Thanks for all the prayers and donation for her care.  She is still with us surrounded by people that love and adore her.

Sweet AVA is scheduled for surgery this week.  Her sinus cavity started to drain again and we had to cancel the surgery we were planning on doing last week.  Her Sprits are great and she is happy running around.  We posed a video of her on our Facebook page of her jumping around.  Please, follow her updates on that page.  We do those several times a week.

We just got a note from the new person in charge of AC in Chester.  She let me know that when Ava was originally picked up, she had been tied up at an abandoned home after being used as bait during a dog fight.  While in AC she was put in a kennel with a top on it because she had been used as a bait dog.  Ava managed to climb out of her kennel and into another kennel and got into a fight with another pit while she was there.  She is a sweet dog that has really been through so much pain and suffering.  Before she can be placed with a family that has other dogs she will be re-socialized (as all of our bait dogs are) to learn how to behave without the fear of being attacked.  So far, she has not shown any major issues with other dogs but then she is still healing and will be for a while.  She adores the love and affection she gets from people and lights up the minute she sees anyone. 

We have done another small surgery on Ava’s Face to seal up the area that was still draining. The infection is finally gone and now we are hopeful it can reform the tissue in the area where it was missing. We have opted to not operate on the left side of her face any further because the tissue has granulated over so well that we could risk losing that tissue completely.  Her face will have a slight dent from where the tissue has adhered to the jawline but she can function fine with it that way and has no problem eating.  It gives her character and makes her perfect to us.  She is a wonderful girl.  Her next step is going to be training so can be re-socialized with dogs again.  She likes some dogs and does not like others.  She loves and adores all humans as you can see from all of  her pictures.