Elusive Stray ~ Case 484

While working another case in the area, our team discovered this little stray girl surviving alone near Highway 377 in Aubrey. What began as an unexpected rescue effort quickly turned into an 11-day search and capture operation as she continued moving through the area and proved incredibly elusive.

On July 12, she was safely captured approximately 4.3 miles from where we first discovered her. Her condition revealed just how brutal her time surviving alone had been. She is now safe, receiving veterinary care, and has secured placement with I Am Dog Rescue if her family is not located.

See the timeline below for her incredible journey from discovery to capture and recovery. 💚

It has now been over a week since we deployed our feeding stations, and she has not returned to the area where our team originally located her. The construction workers who had been seeing her regularly for weeks have not reported any recent sightings.  We will continue actively searching for her.  

This construction site spans several hundred acres, and the landscape is changing rapidly as development continues. Those changes can cause a stray dog’s travel patterns to shift significantly. We have continued distributing flyers to construction workers and are leaving the feeding stations in place in hopes that she will eventually circle back. Because this is a newly developing neighborhood with very few occupied homes, sightings will most likely come from construction workers.

As always, we will update this page as soon as there is a new sighting, she visits one of our feeding stations, or there are any other significant developments.

After 11 days without a single visit to either feeding station, we discovered this little girl had traveled approximately 4.3 miles north, almost a straight shot up Highway 377, and made her way to the area near the cemetery.

With the incredible help of Good Samaritans Jessie and Gail, this sweet girl was finally safely captured! 💚

Because All American Dogs, the shelter that services stray animals for this jurisdiction, was closed for the evening, we transported her to one of our team members’ homes overnight. Our team immediately performed a full-body assessment, removed her severely matted coat, treated her for the severe flea and tick infestation, bathed her, and determined whether she required urgent medical care. At first glance, she did not appear to have any major injuries, but she was extremely disheveled, suffering from significant dermatitis secondary to the severe flea infestation, and had a markedly swollen vulva that will require veterinary evaluation.

We will continue working closely with Animal Control to ensure she completes her required stray hold while we work diligently to locate her family. At the same time, we will also be coordinating with our partner rescues to secure foster placement should her family not be located.

Finally, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to Tammy, Sheba’s mom from Case #483, who selflessly maintained and replenished this little girl’s feeding stations while still desperately searching for her own precious Sheba. Her compassion, generosity, and willingness to help another dog during such a difficult time mean more to us than words can express. 💚

Please continue visiting this page for ongoing updates as we work to reunite this sweet girl with her family. 🐾💚

We conducted a full-body microchip scan, and tragically, she did not have one. While that makes identifying an owner much more difficult, we will make every reasonable effort to locate anyone who may be missing this precious little girl and reunite her with her family if they are searching for her.

Please microchip your pets and keep the registration information up to date!  

After arriving safely at team member Selena’s home, this sweet girl spent about an hour decompressing before becoming comfortable enough for us to perform a thorough head-to-tail assessment. Once she relaxed, we confirmed she is, in fact, a female.

Our examination revealed a severe flea and tick infestation, including one extremely large engorged tick attached to her lower eyelid. Because of its location, we elected to leave it in place and have it safely removed by a veterinarian rather than risk injuring her eye.

She is suffering from severe flea allergy dermatitis, with widespread redness and inflammation, numerous healing flea and tick bite lesions, and multiple small abrasions and superficial lacerations consistent with traveling through thick brush for an extended period. Thankfully, all of her wounds appear to be healing appropriately, and none show signs of infection.

We also discovered a markedly swollen vulva with a slight bloody discharge, suggesting she may be in heat. Aside from her skin condition, dehydration, and heavy parasite burden, she does not appear to have any major traumatic injuries.

To begin treating her immediately, we administered Capstar to rapidly kill the adult fleas and gave her her first broad-spectrum dewormer. Because she was clearly exhausted, stressed, and uncomfortable, we allowed her to continue resting and decompressing while the Capstar began working. Our plan is to give her a medicated Dawn bath later this evening to help remove the remaining fleas, flea dirt, ticks, and debris from her coat.

Despite everything she has endured, this precious little girl already shows us what a sweetheart she is. She has a wonderful appetite, enjoys gentle affection, and simply melts into your arms. We have started her on a careful refeeding protocol while continuing to monitor her condition closely.

Please continue visiting this page for ongoing updates as we work with Animal Control, search for her family, coordinate with our rescue partners, and help this sweet girl on her road to recovery. 💚

After giving her a little more time to decompress, we gave her a much-needed bath. We knew she was dirty, but nothing prepared us for the sheer number of fleas, flea dirt, embedded debris, and attached ticks hidden beneath her coat. It took us hours to get her cleaned up, shave away the heavily matted fur, and remove countless fleas and ticks from her tiny body. The only tick we intentionally left in place was the large one attached to her lower eyelid because it was too close to her eye to safely remove outside of a veterinary clinic.

Throughout the entire process, she was unbelievably gentle, patient, and trusting. She never fussed or fought us. Instead, she seemed to understand that we were trying to help. Once the warm bath was over, she relaxed so completely that she actually fell asleep while we continued shaving away the painful mats. It was impossible not to notice how much more comfortable she seemed as the weight of all that neglected fur finally came off.

What a precious little angel. 💚

While we were able to remove countless fleas and ticks during her grooming, there was one large engorged tick we intentionally left in place. It is attached dangerously close to her lower eyelid and eye tissue, causing significant swelling and discomfort.

Rather than risk injuring her eye, we elected to leave it for our veterinarian to remove. Using proper instruments, magnification, and lighting greatly reduces the risk of damaging the delicate eyelid and eye tissue or leaving part of the tick embedded. Sometimes the safest decision is knowing when not to remove a tick yourself.

After her bath, grooming, and spending three hours removing fleas, ticks, and painfully matted fur, she was completely exhausted… even more than she already had been. Once everything was finally finished, she curled up in Selena’s arms, closed her eyes almost immediately, and was ready for bed. After everything she had been through, she could finally rest. 💚

She slept soundly all night, and this morning Selena actually had to wake her up. It took about 30 minutes, but she finally went outside on a leash and went pee and poop. She is absolutely terrified to be outside, even in a secure yard while on a leash. This is very typical behavior for dogs that have been surviving on their own for an extended period of time. Life in survival mode is incredibly stressful, with constant exposure to predators, harsh weather, and unfamiliar dangers. Even once they’re safe, it takes time for them to realize they no longer have to be afraid.

After she went pee and poop, we collected both a fecal sample and a urine sample to take to our veterinarian for testing today.

The good news is that she had a wonderful appetite this morning and cleaned her breakfast bowl completely. After eating, she was ready to curl back up and go right back to sleep. Most importantly, she already looks so much better this morning.

She will be seeing our veterinarian today for a thorough examination and additional testing. We will be sure to update everyone as soon as we know more. 💚

This sweet girl had her first full veterinary visit today with Dr. Buffington, and considering how long she appears to have been surviving on her own and the conditions she has endured, he said she is doing surprisingly well under the circumstances. Dr. Buffington estimates she is only about a year old, and her teeth look amazing! This precious little girl is so young and has already had such a rough start to her life. 🥺💚

Skin scrapings for Demodex and sarcoptic mange were both negative. Dr. Buffington agreed that the lacerations and abrasions from thorny brush and brutal terrain are healing nicely with no signs of secondary infection. The severe redness and inflammation covering her skin is from severe flea allergy dermatitis.

FACT: A single flea can bite hundreds of times in a single day. With the massive flea infestation she was carrying, it is no wonder her poor skin is so painfully inflamed. Flea allergy dermatitis is an inflammatory hypersensitivity reaction to proteins in flea saliva.

We also confirmed that she is in heat, which explains her markedly swollen vulva and slight bloody discharge. She also has yeast infections in both ears.

Her laboratory results, including her heartworm testing, will take a few days to come back. Today she received her Rabies vaccine, DHPP vaccine for distemper, adenovirus/hepatitis, parainfluenza and parvovirus, Bordetella vaccine, and her first Leptospirosis vaccine. We were unable to give her the canine influenza vaccine today because this clinic does not offer it, so that will still need to be completed. She also received a much-needed nail trim, and they implanted one of our MMESAR microchips so this little girl will never be without identification again. 💚

The horrible engorged tick attached dangerously close to her lower eyelid and eye tissue was also safely removed by Dr. Buffington. We are so thankful we made the decision to leave it in place overnight and allow him to remove it with proper magnification, lighting, and instruments.

She was started on an anti-inflammatory medication, pain medication, and daily medication for both ear infections. Outside of the laboratory results we are still waiting on, Dr. Buffington believes she is in great health. She should start feeling so much better very soon, and now her little body can finally focus on healing. 💚

We also have to give a HUGE shoutout to Dr. Buffington, Kristen, Kassidy, and Morgan at Stonebrook Family Pet Clinic in Frisco! They were absolutely incredible with this precious little girl. Their compassion, patience, and gentle care throughout her visit were amazing, and we are so incredibly grateful for everything they did for her today. 🐾

After she is transferred into the care of I Am Dog Rescue, she will return for a follow-up examination, required vaccine boosters, and will be scheduled for her spay surgery.

We still have lab results pending, and we will update everyone as soon as we know more! 💚🐾💚

We have temporarily given our sweet girl a name… Reverie. 🥹 We are still desperately searching for her family, but until we find them, this precious girl needed something for us to call her. Reverie means a state of daydreaming and sweet bliss. During her very first night safe with us, we watched her sleeping and dreaming away… and the name just fit her perfectly.

Tonight, team member Cindy, AKA Aunt Cindy 😝, picked Reverie up, and she is going to stay with her for a bit. And y’all… Reverie is an absolute sweetheart. She already loves Cindy, wants to be cuddled, follows you everywhere, and appears to be potty trained AND crate trained. 

It is always fascinating to watch the transformation after capture. When dogs are on the run and in survival mode, they can become temporarily petrified of humans because they are afraid of EVERYTHING. Then they are captured, they decompress, they sleep… and that survival mode begins to shut off. And suddenly, the dog who was terrified of everyone remembers how much she loves people. 🥹💚🐾

Following our public posts, two different families came forward believing this dog belonged to them. One claim involved a dog named Mia, whose family now resides in Venezuela. Over the course of several days, our team conducted an extensive ownership verification process using phone calls, video calls, photographs, veterinary records, historical information, in-person meetings, behavioral observations, and other supporting documentation to carefully evaluate both claims before reaching a final determination.

As a result of that process, we confirmed this little girl’s name is Muñeca. She had gone missing from her family’s home in Aubrey just two weeks earlier and was ultimately safely contained less than a half mile from where she escaped. She has now been reunited with her family, including her mother and littermate, after an emotional reunion.

As we delivered Muñeca back home to her family, we sent her home with six months’ worth of heartworm prevention and flea and tick prevention to help keep her protected. Her family has gladly committed to continuing the medical care she began while in our custody, including her ongoing treatment for her ear infections, and ensuring she receives everything she needs to make a full recovery. To help support her continued care, MMESAR also offered to cover the cost of her spay surgery, booster vaccinations, and her follow-up examination in two weeks. Our veterinarian also confirmed that the flea infestation, flea dermatitis, skin irritation, and overall condition we observed could absolutely have developed during the two weeks she spent surviving outdoors in the environment and terrain where she was found.

While this was not the outcome Mia’s family had hoped for, our hearts are with them as they continue searching for her. We sincerely hope their journey ends with the same joyful reunion one day. 💚