Puppy rescued from Detroit sewer has long road to recovery

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Its’ been four days since loveable, little Leo was rescued from the bottom of a germ-filled Detroit sewer.  And Leo is still extremely thin and frail.

”Well, it isn’t hard to see, you can see his ribs are sticking out, his backbone is sticking out”, says Dr. Shirene Cece.

Veterinarians like Dr. Shirene Cece are caring for little Leo around the clock, but the puppy is in for a battle.

Leo has a whole host of health problems at the same time.

He has a bad case of Demodectic Mange which has stripped 50 percent of his body fur away.

Leo is also painfully thin.  He should weigh about 25 pounds, instead veterinarians says he weighs around 12 pounds.

It’s called emaciation or starvation and doctors estimate that Leo really hasn’t eaten well  in weeks, maybe months.

On top of that, Leo is also suffering from intestinal parasites and he is fighting “Pyoderma”, it’s a skin infection that causes scabbing.

Leo has a long road to recovery ahead of him.

Although hundreds of people have contacted the Michigan Humane Society wanting to adopt him, Leo will have to stay here and be cared for for perhaps another three months.

With a face like Leo has, getting adopted will probably be his last worry.

If you’d like to adopt one of the dozens of other cute pets from the Michigan Humane Society, you can do it easily by calling 1-866-M-HUMANE, or just go to michiganhumane.org.