We spotted Lila (pronounced Lee-la, meaning Lilac in French…and Spanish) ) wandering near the central park in Antigua on August 15, 2013. She stood out because of her beautiful and unique markings (white with a dark brown saddle and eye patch) and because she was filthy and pathetically, skeletally thin. Her tail was plastered against her belly, her hip bones threatened to pop out through her skin, and she was trying her best to be invisible as she scrounged for food. We tried to attract her, but she was spooked by a very noisy parade, and disappeared. Disappointed that we couldn’t find her, we carried on, hoping that we would see her again and have better luck.

The next morning we received a call from our friend Alison about a starving puppy that she had seen curled up in a doorway trying to stay dry the night before. She had put out some food for it, thinking that perhaps it lived in that house, but couldn’t sleep worrying about it, miserable and cold . It rained heavily all night. Early the next morning she went out to check, and the poor pup was still there, food soggy and untouched. Alison called us and when she described the puppy we quickly realized that this was the same little one we had tried to catch the morning before!

Alison and Jason took the pup in and kept her overnight, and we picked her up the next morning. She was starving but reluctant to eat due to a very bad gum infection. We got her bathed and treated her parasites, put her on a course of antibiotic and fed her soft food.

Lila recovered, developing other issues such as oral papillomas along the way. When she was healthy and well trained, we placed her in adoption. She was adopted by DJ and Mia, and lives in the Bay area, enjoying hiking and beach runs with her active family.