Puppy with slashed throat recovering at Winnipeg shelter

Staff with a Winnipeg animal rescue centre say they've never seen anything like it — a puppy with a large cut on her throat.

Lemon-Lime, a nine-month-old female lab cross, had an open wound on her throat and was covered in wood ticks when she was brought to D'Arcy's A.R.C. by animal services staff on Wednesday.

Shelter CEO D'Arcy Johnston said the cut is being treated with hydrotherapy and the puppy is being given pain medication.

"It's an open wound and it's very graphic and her trachea is exposed, but she's responding well," he told CBC News on Thursday afternoon.

Johnston said he has seen cuts on dogs caused by tight or ingrown collars as well as barbed wire or glass, but this wound looks different.

"To me, the wound itself is just too straight and too sharp and very deep, and obviously I'm thinking it was done with a metal object of some type," he said.

"We've seen cuts on legs and sides of dogs, ears which are cut with sharp objects, but not … across the throat."

Johnston said it's not known what exactly caused the wound on Lemon-Lime.

The puppy, who was found in the Rural Municipality of Hanover, appears to have been someone's pet at one point because she has been friendly and easygoing, he said.

"It's unfortunate that she's ended up in this situation," he said.

It could take a couple of months before Lemon-Lime's wound heals, said Johnston, adding that she will likely be adopted out after she recovers.