(I'm not sure if this is the right sub for this, so please let me know if it's not! Posting from a throwaway account.)
https://preview.redd.it/7q9l5e1wojq...bp&s=77f7352a019da044f223be40333c6b1c6ff2ce3b
This is my sweet girl, and she's about 8 years old. She lives with my parents, we got her when I was a teenager/still living at home. I honestly have no idea how to explain what's going on in my family home in a concise way, but it isn't a good situation there at all. We have two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever. The GSD is completely fine because my Dad is taking care of her. The Golden is clearly not, and my Mum is supposed to be the one who takes care of her.
My mother is abusive and has been addicted to various drugs. The most recent drug she's apparently become hooked on is cocaine. She is also a hoarder with a SEVERE spending addiction. There is barely any room to MOVE in the house and everything is dirty. The only space in the house are pathways that have been made from the front room to the kitchen, there's no extra space for the dogs to move around, they can't wag their tails without hitting various objects or knocking boxes over, etc! It's so so so awful.
Golden has been chewing herself RAW the past month or so (pics, cw animal injury) and my Mum is refusing to take her to the vet. A few weeks ago, I went to visit to check on Golden, and I found her covered in bandages with sudocrem slapped all over open wounds. The fur around the wounds was matted with dried sudocrem. It was genuinely really upsetting to see. My Mum was really quite forceful with Golden when she was putting the bandages back on too, I really think it must have caused her so much discomfort and stress. I tried telling my Mum that Golden needs to go to the vet, but my Mum says that she's "broke" and can't afford to take her to the vet. I don't understand how she can claim that she has no money whilst surrounded by piles of yarn, ugg boots, whatever her latest spending addiction is, etc, and when I know she's buying weed and now, supposedly, cocaine. I genuinely don't even know where she's getting the money to fund those addictions from, but that's besides the point.
Yesterday my Dad and I took both dogs to the woods for the afternoon. My Mum doesn't give Golden enough exercise, so I really wanted to get Golden out to a nice open space where she could run around and have fun, especially with our other dog. They had a REALLY fantastic time and my Dad said he hadn't seen Golden have that much energy in such a long time. There were so many mud puddles and Golden decided to run through every single one in sight. It was such a delight to see her enjoying her life like that, rather than being cooped up with no stimulation in a hoarder's house. The downside is that Golden's wounds have actually gotten worse since I visited a few weeks ago. She's now missing half of the fur on her tail, her back legs have at least a wound each, and whilst her backside is healing up a bit, it's not really getting better and she's still missing a GIANT PATCH OF FUR ON HER LOWER BACK.
I was a bit concerned about her going through mud puddles when she's got raw skin exposed like that, but I managed to take Golden to my apartment for a bath and to groom her. When I was trying to bathe Golden, the areas of skin affected are clearly really sensitive for her and it felt like some parts had almost turned into scales on her lower back? Her back is covered in a rash and some part is scales, I don't know how to describe it. I tried to be so careful and gentle with the water over these parts and didn't use soap on them, JUST in case the chemicals would irritate them more. So many scabs and black bits came off and were floating around in the water, also lots of dead skin build up! I also cut the matted, gross sudocrem-y parts out of her fur when she was dried off. I struggled to sleep last night thinking about the horrible, scaley bits felt and knowing I've dropped Golden back off in the same harmful environment.
I've asked my Mum if I can have Golden stay at my apartment for a few days, but she's adamant that Golden "needs her". My Mum is the dog's "everything", and the dog would be "lost without her". Bullshit. I can't STAND knowing there's a dependent dog being neglected by my mother's behaviour. I don't know what on EARTH to do in this situation because I'm their daughter and don't technically own the dog, nothing is in my name. My landlord allows pets since we have a cat here, so I might be able to house Golden here, but I'm not sure I could afford vet bills. Aside from costs, I know I could provide everything else she needs to be a healthy and happy golden.
If anyone has any advice, I would appreciate it SO much. I want to make sure my girl has the best quality of life she can in the final few years she has, because I don't think she's going to be around much longer.
TLDR; golden retriever is being caught in the crosshairs of my parents divorce, goldie is 'legally' my abusive mother's property and my mother is neglecting her. she refuses to take her to the vet even though the golden has been chewing her skin raw for over 1 month straight. the golden is not getting better, her skin is ACTIVELY getting worse, she's covered in dried blood, sudocrem and dirt, and she's losing more and more fur.
https://preview.redd.it/7q9l5e1wojq...bp&s=77f7352a019da044f223be40333c6b1c6ff2ce3b
This is my sweet girl, and she's about 8 years old. She lives with my parents, we got her when I was a teenager/still living at home. I honestly have no idea how to explain what's going on in my family home in a concise way, but it isn't a good situation there at all. We have two dogs, a German Shepherd and a Golden Retriever. The GSD is completely fine because my Dad is taking care of her. The Golden is clearly not, and my Mum is supposed to be the one who takes care of her.
My mother is abusive and has been addicted to various drugs. The most recent drug she's apparently become hooked on is cocaine. She is also a hoarder with a SEVERE spending addiction. There is barely any room to MOVE in the house and everything is dirty. The only space in the house are pathways that have been made from the front room to the kitchen, there's no extra space for the dogs to move around, they can't wag their tails without hitting various objects or knocking boxes over, etc! It's so so so awful.
Golden has been chewing herself RAW the past month or so (pics, cw animal injury) and my Mum is refusing to take her to the vet. A few weeks ago, I went to visit to check on Golden, and I found her covered in bandages with sudocrem slapped all over open wounds. The fur around the wounds was matted with dried sudocrem. It was genuinely really upsetting to see. My Mum was really quite forceful with Golden when she was putting the bandages back on too, I really think it must have caused her so much discomfort and stress. I tried telling my Mum that Golden needs to go to the vet, but my Mum says that she's "broke" and can't afford to take her to the vet. I don't understand how she can claim that she has no money whilst surrounded by piles of yarn, ugg boots, whatever her latest spending addiction is, etc, and when I know she's buying weed and now, supposedly, cocaine. I genuinely don't even know where she's getting the money to fund those addictions from, but that's besides the point.
Yesterday my Dad and I took both dogs to the woods for the afternoon. My Mum doesn't give Golden enough exercise, so I really wanted to get Golden out to a nice open space where she could run around and have fun, especially with our other dog. They had a REALLY fantastic time and my Dad said he hadn't seen Golden have that much energy in such a long time. There were so many mud puddles and Golden decided to run through every single one in sight. It was such a delight to see her enjoying her life like that, rather than being cooped up with no stimulation in a hoarder's house. The downside is that Golden's wounds have actually gotten worse since I visited a few weeks ago. She's now missing half of the fur on her tail, her back legs have at least a wound each, and whilst her backside is healing up a bit, it's not really getting better and she's still missing a GIANT PATCH OF FUR ON HER LOWER BACK.
I was a bit concerned about her going through mud puddles when she's got raw skin exposed like that, but I managed to take Golden to my apartment for a bath and to groom her. When I was trying to bathe Golden, the areas of skin affected are clearly really sensitive for her and it felt like some parts had almost turned into scales on her lower back? Her back is covered in a rash and some part is scales, I don't know how to describe it. I tried to be so careful and gentle with the water over these parts and didn't use soap on them, JUST in case the chemicals would irritate them more. So many scabs and black bits came off and were floating around in the water, also lots of dead skin build up! I also cut the matted, gross sudocrem-y parts out of her fur when she was dried off. I struggled to sleep last night thinking about the horrible, scaley bits felt and knowing I've dropped Golden back off in the same harmful environment.
I've asked my Mum if I can have Golden stay at my apartment for a few days, but she's adamant that Golden "needs her". My Mum is the dog's "everything", and the dog would be "lost without her". Bullshit. I can't STAND knowing there's a dependent dog being neglected by my mother's behaviour. I don't know what on EARTH to do in this situation because I'm their daughter and don't technically own the dog, nothing is in my name. My landlord allows pets since we have a cat here, so I might be able to house Golden here, but I'm not sure I could afford vet bills. Aside from costs, I know I could provide everything else she needs to be a healthy and happy golden.
If anyone has any advice, I would appreciate it SO much. I want to make sure my girl has the best quality of life she can in the final few years she has, because I don't think she's going to be around much longer.
TLDR; golden retriever is being caught in the crosshairs of my parents divorce, goldie is 'legally' my abusive mother's property and my mother is neglecting her. she refuses to take her to the vet even though the golden has been chewing her skin raw for over 1 month straight. the golden is not getting better, her skin is ACTIVELY getting worse, she's covered in dried blood, sudocrem and dirt, and she's losing more and more fur.