A Texas dog rescued from a cornfield has made an incredible recovery and looks like a whole new pup after a much-needed makeover.
The dog — nicknamed Matt after the copious amounts of matted fur covering the canine’s body upon his discovery, according to KLBK-TV — was rescued by the South Plains Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). The non-profit organization promotes animal welfare and educates pet parents on responsible pet ownership.
„We are asking for help with this dog found yesterday,” the South Plains SPCA wrote in a Facebook post about Matt on Monday. „This dog is the worst case of dog neglect we have ever encountered. We have tried to clean it up some today but the hair is extremely matted and thick and we are unable to do anything at this time.”
„The dog has rotten skin spots, hair matted to the skin so bad it is in grown into the skin, the nails are 2 inches long,” the organization continued. „There are thousands of goat head stickers throughout the mats and stuck inside the skin. The dog yelps with pain every time we tried to cut the hair.”
Thanks to donations from animal lovers moved by Matt’s story, the South Plains SPCA could bring Matt to Ark Hospital for Pets for treatment and an extensive grooming session from Kayla’s Grooming Service. Matt was under anesthesia for his shearing, which required carefully cutting out a collar left on the dog by his previous owner, which had become embedded in the dog’s skin.
„When I first got the call, these people had found this dog behind their house in a cornfield, and I got a call by my president [Kim Moyers] to go pick this dog up, Tori Houston, a foster mom, and volunteer with the South Plains SPCA, tells PEOPLE. „And when I arrived, the condition of this dog was probably the worst I had ever seen any dog, ever; he had so much hair you didn’t know which was the front, which was the back. He was covered in goat heads. He stunk so bad,” she says. You couldn’t see any part of his body. He looked like a pile of sheep wool.”