Nika Was Found Starving in a Cardboard Box. Months Later, She Was Walking in the Snow.

At 5 a.m. in a residential neighborhood in Moscow, people found a young dog inside a cardboard box. She was so thin and weak that she couldn’t stand.

The people who found her took her home and tried to feed and wash her. 

When she was too exhausted to eat, they realized she needed more care than they could give her. A car was sent to take her to an emergency veterinary clinic.

Nika weighed just 9.8 kilograms when she arrived

Nika looked like a young Labrador and weighed about 22 pounds at her first exam. The veterinary team found that she was severely dehydrated and malnourished. X-rays showed no broken bones, but the muscles in her legs had weakened so much that she couldn’t stand. 

The team started round-the-clock IV treatment.

Her appetite began to return before she was ready to eat much. “Nika, she is such a brave girl and is clearly hungry, but she cannot eat too much yet,” the narrator says in the Paws Paws rescue video.

PetMD explains that suddenly giving a dog a large amount of food after starvation can cause “fluid, electrolyte, and vitamin imbalances.” If you find a dog too weak to stand, call an emergency veterinarian and ask how to get the dog there safely.

Her appetite came back while her legs grew worse

In one update, Nika was eating, drinking, and asking for attention. She’d reached 13 kilograms, and the people caring for her could see her face filling out. The circulation in her hind legs was still poor.

At a later exam, some of her blood test results had improved and the swelling had gone down. Yet veterinarians found severe damage to both hind legs. When surgery first came up, Nika was still too weak for it.

As she gained strength, she grew more curious. During one long visit with doctors, she wanted to sniff the people around her. 

By the time the team cleared her for surgery, she weighed 15.3 kilograms. She was still anemic, so the team set aside plasma in case she needed it during the operation.

Nika came through surgery and went into foster care

The operation went smoothly, according to the rescue update. After a day of monitoring, Nika went back to her regular clinic with a new wound-care plan. The rescue later confirmed that her hind legs couldn’t be saved.

Before she left the clinic for foster care, an update reported that Nika had reached 18 kilograms. Her kidney function had returned to normal, and one wound was healing faster than the other. At Karina’s home, she could stretch out on a soft bed and play between checkups.

Nika liked going out in the soft snow and coming back to curl up in bed. One wound was slow to heal, and walks sometimes left new sores. Even as she grew more playful, she still needed care when she came back inside.

Karina and Nikita decided Nika was home

Karina and her husband, Nikita, had spent months caring for Nika. Then they decided to keep her. “Karina and her husband Nikita, who have cared for Nika throughout her recovery, have decided to adopt her forever!” the Paws Paws update says.

They kept tending to her wounds after the adoption. After eight months of care, the rescue reported that the wound on her second leg had finally healed. By then, Nika had a few preferences of her own. She was picky about food, and she liked her walks best when the weather was nice.

What came next for Nika’s mobility

The rescue’s next step was to consult a specialist about 3D-printed prosthetic boots. VCA Animal Hospitals explains that veterinary rehabilitation uses physical therapies “to improve a pet’s mobility and reduce pain.” 

If your dog is having trouble getting around after surgery, ask your vet what kind of support fits your dog’s stage of healing.

On the morning she was found, Nika was too weak to stand. Months later, she could spend a little time in the snow and come back to a warm bed in the home she shared with Karina and Nikita.

If Nika’s snowy walks made you smile, share her story with someone who’d love to see her enjoying life at home.

Also read:

Ango Could Barely Walk When He Was Found. By Day 90, He Was Wagging His Tail at the Park