Dog Recovering From Gunshot Wound Gets Overwhelming Support

A dog shot near Arcadia is enjoying a flood of support and top-notch care.

Someone found the dog wandering injured last Wednesday. The dog, nicknamed Gunnie, is recovering from surgery. She was brought to Oklahoma City for treatment and an animal welfare group called The Underdogs Rescue stepped in to pay for her care.

Someone shot Gunnie, a shepherd mix, with a .22 and the bullet entered her neck, bounced off her spinal column and then exited the other side.

“Amazingly, she didn't receive any major damage to any blood vessels, her trachea, her esophagus,” said Dr. Valerie Bays of the Animal Wellness Center.

Bays operated on Gunnie and the dog needed about 20 external stitches to close up the wounds.

“I try to do even more for the rescues, and so anything I can do for them, I do,” Bays explained. “We work with about 30 different rescues right now all over Oklahoma.”

Learn more about The Underdogs Rescue.

The Underdogs Rescue is the group paying for Gunnie's care. Their mission is to care for discarded animals like Gunnie.

“Whether it was on purpose or on accident, being left there with a gunshot wound is just not right,” said Underdogs Rescue founder, Jared White.

White said Gunnie's initial care is several hundred dollars and that does not include follow-ups and after care.

“We try not to think of money up front, otherwise we would be no good at what we do,” White told News 9.

Learn how you can donate to Gunnie's care.

Gunnie's rescuers said they may never find her owner or who shot her, but she will be cared for.

“When we see the before and the after, the transition of the rehabilitation and the recovery, it really is why we do what we do. It makes it completely worth it,” White said.

Gunnie is eating well, she's walking now and heading for a wonderful ending after a sad beginning.

She went home with a foster parent to recover on Monday.

Follow Gunnie's progress on her Facebook page.