Celeb pooch recovers after another surgery

Princess P to be evaluated for adoption

Princess P was found Sept. 9 with a severely embedded collar. She was released from the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee to her foster family after recovering from a surgical procedure.

THE BLADE/LORI KING
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Princess P was found Sept. 9 with a severely embedded collar. She was released from the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee to her foster family after recovering from a surgical procedure.

She’s a friendly, good-natured pooch, tail a wagging, but it isn’t known yet whether Princess P with the wounded neck will be adopted anytime soon.

Following a short recovery period from a recent surgical procedure, Princess P is back with her foster family, where she will stay for a couple of weeks, followed by evaluation as to whether the dog is ready for the adoption process, said Danielle Jones, director of marketing and development for the Toledo Area Humane Society.

Terry Power plays with Princess P, the dog picked up recently with a severely embedded collar, at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee, Ohio. She's being held by Danielle Jones, of the Toledo Area Humane Society.

Many people, including residents in Europe and beyond, were drawn in September to the story of Princess P, who came to the Lucas County Dog Warden with a severely embedded collar, her head puffed like a balloon because her lymph system and veins were mostly cut and there was no drainage system left. Her face was expected to remain swollen for a while as her body healed.

After The Blade’s story on Princess P was picked up by London’s Daily Mail, donations for the dog warden’s Cutie’s Fund started flowing in from around the world, with several thousand dollars coming in from the United States, as well as from Australia, Venezuela, Switzerland, Canada, Greece, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

Cutie’s Fund, a program to help dogs that come into the pound with high-cost medical needs, has raised more than $52,000 since its November, 2012, inception. More than a dozen dogs have been helped, including those suffering from broken legs, a broken jaw, several eye removals, a parvo case, a broken pelvis, and a puppy dying of unknown causes. Princess P is one of the latest recipients of help from Cutie’s Fund.

The medium-sized, mixed-breed dog, about 5 or 6 years old, was picked up running at large on Parkside Boulevard near Dorr Street. The neck wound was 3 inches across and 5 inches deep. The embedded collar was removed surgically, and soon after, fluid in Princess P’s head started to drain.

Last week, another procedure to help the dog’s neck heal was required, and since then Princess P has undergone a condition check at the Toledo Area Humane Society in Maumee. The dog was released from there about 5 p.m. Tuesday into the care of her foster family.

Although the story of Princess P garnered worldwide attention, there’s no waiting list of people eager to adopt the dog.

Princess P rollicking.

“She looks great. She’s a fantastic dog,” said Gary Willoughby, executive director of the humane society, noting Princess P looks so much different now that people coming in to adopt a dog likely wouldn’t recognize her as the celebrity canine. And, he said, there’s no neon sign flashing: “Here is Princess P.”

The goal is to find the best situation for her, particularly because of the horrible ordeal she’s gone through. He described the embedded collar as the worst he had ever seen, and said he has seen a lot of embedded collars.

How does something like that happen?

He explained: Usually it starts with a collar on a puppy. The puppy could be outdoors behind the house with a teen assigned to take care of the animal. The puppy grows, and the collar starts to tighten. The teen is scared to tell parents about the situation and the collar continues to get tighter. Then, perhaps over a backyard fence, a neighbor sees the dog with the embedded collar and alerts authorities, or maybe a visiting relative, eager to meet the dog, notices the collar and then action is taken by the pet owner.

Contact Janet Romaker at: jromaker@theblade.com or 419-724-6006.