Gardenia, a hairless dog, has been wandering the streets of Houston, Texas, asking for rescue for months. One night, the poor girl saw a woman in the parking lot and decided to approach her for help. Gardenia approached the stranger, who fed her food and tied a belt around her neck.
In order to help the sad puppy, the lady posted a video of gardenia flowers on Facebook, and Caitie Evers immediately recognized it. Evers told The Dodo, "I've become known as the sucker for mange cases." “People will submit or tag me in any post about a stray puppy with mange.”
Evers was aware that Gardenia's appearance at the time would have scared some people, but she remembered Gardenia as an adorable and pretty girl. Evers made the decision to bring Gardenia home and care for her. “All they want to do when you pick them up off the street like that is sleep,” Evers remarked. “So I made her comfy and rushed her to the vet.” The puppy was taken to the hospital, and the veterinarian found that she had Demodex, a non-infectious skin disease that can be easily treated with medication.
“She had heaps of mange all over her, as well as secondary illnesses from the mange because it had clearly been like that for quite some time,” Evers explained. “It was terrible; her entire back was raw.” It can be seen from her behavior that when the mange begins to heal, the gardenia must be unpleasant and itchy. “At first, she was really shy,” Evers recollected.
“She would just sort of hang out — she wouldn't play, she wouldn't snuggle.” “The poor girl simply looked depressed,” she added. “She appeared to despise life and had given up.” Gardenia's fur began to come back gently, thanks to medications and medicinal baths. Described her as a "goofball." “She enjoys pounces and playing, and she fell in love with my German shepherd.” “It's hard to tell if there's a change for the first two weeks, and then it's like, ‘Bam! Different dog,'” Evers noted. “And now she's so fluffy and lovely.”
Evers realized that it was time to give Gardenia a permanent home, and soon after, her friend Brittany Pardi expressed interest in seeing the puppy. Tripaldi and her fiance had been following Gardenia's story since the beginning and knew she was the one. Tripaldi told The Dodo, "I watched as she came out of her shell and became the nicest pup." “We got to meet her and fell in love right away.”