Pitbull Attack - Severely Injured Whippet

On a sunny afternoon on Saturday, July 8, Sunyi, our 11-year-old whippet, was taking her daily walk with the dog sitter. Suddenly, an aggressive pitbull ran towards them, dragging its leash, and viciously attacked Sunyi, latching its jaws around her neck.

The dog sitter tried to pull the pitbull's leash to get it off our whippet while repeatedly hitting the pitbull to release its jaw from her neck, but the damage had already been done.

Sunyi was left bruised and bleeding profusely. She was rushed to the emergency vet care. The vet called us to let us know that she might not make it due to her extensive injuries from the bite: puncture to the trachea under her jaw, puncture above her cheekbone, and damage to her esophagus. The vet urgently tried to stop the bleeding and then put her into an oxygen tank to help her breathe because she could not breathe on her own. Her lungs were filling up with fluid from being shaken so hard by the pitbull, who was trying to kill her. At this point, the urgent care vet was just trying to keep her alive. She was not strong enough for surgery. 4 days later, we found a vet specialist who could perform trachea surgery. We were originally told that she might still be too weak to survive the surgery. Her white blood cells were too low. Her lungs were filled with fluid. She struggled to breathe. She was put on antibiotics and extreme pain medication.

We pushed for the surgery which was a success because Sunyi was not going to have a fighting chance without it. They found that the puncture went all the way back to her saliva gland in the back of her throat near her tonsils. They carved out the dead skin surrounding the outside punctures which were heavily infected and closed the open wounds. They were able to fix the open wounds. But her lungs are still filled with fluid. She might have pneumonia which might be part of the cause of her fluid-filled lungs. We do not know if she can make it and live. But we want to give her every chance we can. She still needs to be in an oxygen box. We do not know for how long. Each day her medical cost is rising so fast. Our hearts are breaking that our sweet girl has to go through this attack and suffering.

Sunyi is the sweetest dog. She wouldn't bark at others. She was always acquiescent to others whether it be another person or another dog. She never put up a fight.

Sunyi loved playing with balls. She would run so fast when we threw the ball. Sometimes she would not even wait for us. She would take her ball to the top of the stairs and release the ball down the stairs. Then she would chase the ball down the stairs. Then she would repeat over and over again. She just loved her ball.

We are asking everyone who reads this to help us give Sunyi a chance.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.