When Donna Lochmann, chief life-saving officer with Stray Rescue of St. Louis (SRSL), and her team were driving through the city searching for animals in need of help, something unusual caught her attention.
From the window of her Jeep, Donna noticed a big, gray clump resting beneath a white van.
As soon as the clump shifted, the rescuers realized that it was alive. What they didn’t know was what kind of animal it might be. Still, the team pulled over and got out to help.
A Mystery Beneath The Van
Even as they got closer, the rescuers couldn’t identify the animal.
“His hair was so long, you could barely tell which side was his face. You could kind of see his nose,” Donna told The Dodo.
After a closer look, she realized it was a dog with severely matted fur.
The tangled clumps pulled heavily on his skin, and Donna assumed he must have been in pain.
“After years of neglect, his long, matted hair was full of feces, urine, and ICE,” Stray Rescue of St. Louis shared in a Facebook post.
Donna immediately crawled underneath the van, slipped a leash around the dog’s neck, and spoke gently to him, hoping to coax him out.
“He screamed …But with skill and patience, Donna got him safely into the warm Jeep,” the post read.
The team wrapped him in a blanket, carried him to the car, and rushed him to the St. Louis hospital.
Treatment Begins At The Vet
When he arrived at the vet, he was supposed to get a full checkup, but the mats covering his body made it impossible.
“We had to get the hair off of him. It’s a real process when it’s that knotted up, trying to get it off,” Donna added.
The veterinary team carefully worked through the thick clumps with electric clippers, taking their time not to hurt him.
After hours of careful grooming, the pup, now named Pilgrim, was finally free.
“He had to feel so much better getting all that hair off of him. It might’ve been about six pounds of hair,” she said.
While trimming, the vets discovered an injury on one of Pilgrim’s back legs. An X-ray later confirmed it was a broken pelvis.
The pup underwent surgery to repair his fractures and, after only three weeks, made a full recovery.
With his injuries healed and his fur finally freed, Pilgrim was ready to move into foster care.
A Fresh Start In A New Home
A couple, Taylor and Joe, heard about Pilgrim’s story and decided to foster him.
From the moment he arrived, Pilgrim immediately bonded with the family and their other pets.
Before long, Taylor and Joe realized that fostering wasn’t enough. They wanted him to stay forever.
“Pilgrim fits in so perfectly with our family, so we decided to foster fail. He’s a very happy boy,” the couple told SRSL in a letter that was shared on Facebook.
From then on, Pilgrim, later renamed Oscar, has lived the good life. He spends his days surrounded by love, playtime, cuddles, and lots of fur brushing.
“He’s living [a] good, comfortable life and brings joy to his family every single day. [We] love this!” SRSL wrote in an update.