Dog Found Near Death Slowly Being Nursed Back To Health

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - She may not be ready to run and play yet, but Victoria is doing much better than she was a month ago when she was found on a Hialeah canal bank.

It was a slight eye twitch and shallow breathing, small signs of life that caught the attention of her rescuer, and got her into the hands of Donna Piro with Glimmer of Life rescue. "At that point, we were like, we have to go get this dog, even though she looked like she's dying," said Piro, "at least we can humanely put her down, that's what we thought, that's how bad it looked," she said.

Victoria got help right away no one knew if it would be enough to save her life. The vet said she appeared to be five hours away from death. "They didn't know what was going to happen," Piro said. "They put tube feeding in, they put the catheter in because of the stones, we did X-rays. We were going there morning, afternoon, and night."

In the coming days, Victoria began to perk up and bulk up. She was 40 pounds when she came in --about 30 pounds from she should be and was dealing with a host of medical problems. "We found out that she has heartworm, she has kidney stones." Piro continued saying Victoria had "an infection of the uterus. She needed a blood transfusion and pins in her foot."

The leg was pretty bad. "Somehow or another, it was all cut open and her bones were shattered and hanging out," Piro said. "She actually had maggots inside of her leg."

Now with her cast, she's moving pretty well and she's eating. It's getting her strong enough for 3 upcoming surgeries, which hopefully we get her ready for adoption.

One thing we may never know is how she ended up on that canal bank, and what caused her all the pain.

The good news is her future looks very good. "I wish we knew her story," said Piro. "We have no idea. All we know is she's on the road to recovery and that's the most important thing."

Victoria's road to recovery has been expensive. If you'd like to help, you can find out more about her and donate at glimmeroflife.com