Poppy can't tell us what happened to her or why

Poppy {the final update} 

Neglect IS abuse. Ignorance is no excuse and even worse, ignoring obvious signs of distress for days, weeks, months, longer, is an intentional act of harm. Poppy was so severely neglected, abused, mistreated, and ultimately abandoned in her greatest time of need that by the time we got to her, it was too late. What was initially thought to be an act of trauma from the outside - a hit that fractured her cheek and bones surrounding her eye - turned out to be cancer ignored and allowed to ravage her body from the inside. Poppy was left to live with an aggressive cancerous tumor growing in her mouth for a long time. In fact, while she was suffering in this way, she was also bred and nursed puppies. The mass festered and ate her mouth from the inside. It continued to engulf the surrounding tissue, growing so substantial it shattered her cheek bone and the bones around her eye cavity, pushing her eye forward and causing it to bulge painfully. Injuries like this are usually from being beaten with a solid object, from a collision with a motor-vehicle, or other like trauma. But Poppy’s injuries came not at the hands of her owners, but as a consequence of their complete lack of care and cold heart. There was no ignoring the blood that leaked from her mouth, the thick, dark clots that fell from her face. You only had to be around her a matter of minutes to witness dramatic blood loss in this manner. The damage that this cancer did her to body was horrific and prolonged. It didn’t happen overnight. It took a significant amount of time to eat away the tissues of her jaws, her nasal cavities, crack her bones, displace her eye, etc. The cancer had even begun to eat its way towards her brain… After having Poppy assessed by two vets, more than an hour and a half apart geographically, just wanting to confirm there was absolutely nothing that could be done, no “get her comfortable” measure we could take, there was no decision left to make. The only course of action we could take was to let Poppy go with the last shreds of grace and dignity and in the lap of the only ones who ever showed her kindness, respect, and love. So we showered her with kisses, we pet her all over, and we said good-bye. It’s been a little over 24 hours and our hearts still ache for a dog we barely knew, who we wanted so much to show the side of life she had been missing. We wanted desperately to change her fate, to find her a loving home where she could be cherished and live any amount of time on the couch, wrapped in blankets, with warm words and soft hands comforting her. Poppy was in tremendous, prolonged pain that went far beyond the cancer we’ve described. Poppy was covered in scars on nearly every inch of her body. Her pads were ulcerated and open from urine burns. Her hind end had all-too familiar scarring we have seen when females are forced to breed by being tied down and subdued. Her spirit was crushed and her heart was broken. But she hoped…she really wanted to believe that maybe we offered her something different. While she couldn’t get past her pain to crawl in our laps or allow us to cuddle her, she chose over and over to place herself as close as she could get to us without actually touching us. She wanted to be where we were. She chose the things that smelled the most like us to lay on or in, and the moment we left a spot, she chose that spot as her next safe space. For Poppy, the day she had with us was one without the worries she was used to. She had food, fresh water, comfort items, cold AC, kind words, and without a doubt, we know she felt loved. For more time, without pain, is all we hoped and for which we mourn the loss. She is a dog who will forever live in our hearts - As we pursue repercussions for her owners for their mistreatment of her, as we heal from the pain of losing her, as we rescue the next one who needs us… She mattered to us and it mattered to her that we tried, that we cared. We carry her with us. Maxxandme.org

♬ You Matter To Me (feat. Jason Mraz) - Sara Bareilles