The luck of the draw

These four dogs must have thought things couldn’t get any worse – their owner had passed away and they were all alone inside her apartment. The door was locked, so even barking as loud as they could didn’t help.

Their luck changed when the real estate agent remembered that a friend fostered dogs for an animal welfare organization and contacted him. In just hours, the dogs were safely in a car on their way to the Tokyo ARK office. They were given names meaning happiness and joy, in the hope that their lives from that night on would be filled with these.

The next morning, they had medical checks. The results were not great: all had liver problems – one serious – and all were anaemic. They were all suffering from debilitating diarrhea. Felice, the youngest, needed days of intravenous drips and Fuku needed emergency eye surgery.

Four days after their rescue, things are looking up. The intestinal woes have abated and their blood tests show marked improvement. They will soon be placed in loving foster homes while they wait for forever families. Please let us know if one of those families might be yours.