Miss Scarlet, the dog found starving, doing better but not ready for adoption yet

Miss Scarlet is on the road to recovery.

Someone spotted the dog walking the streets and called Animal Control Law Enforcement.

That road ahead is a long one for Miss Scarlet.

“When I first got her home, you could tell she was starved for attention, starved for food,” said Nicole Stott, Miss Scarlet’s foster parent.

You can still see her ribcage and bones, but she’s a lot better now than when she first came in.

“She was just about as bad as it gets,” said Dr. Sue Lynch, veterinarian at the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region. “She was able to move around.”

Miss Scarlett was barely 30 pounds when she was roaming the streets.

A passerby saw her, called police and she was rushed to a veterinarian for immediate treatment.

“In this case, a young dog very emaciated. Potentially it’s neglect or starvation, which I think is the case with Miss Scarlet,” Lynch said.

She said this case of malnutrition is one of the worst she’s seen. Miss Scarlet likely wouldn’t have made it much longer had someone not found her.

“They can kind of compensate for awhile, but eventually they will go into multiple organ dysfunctions and multiple organ failure,” Lynch said. “Not a whole lot longer, there wasn’t much her body could provide.”

She’s already put on 8 pounds, meaning she has to gain about another 20 pounds.

Her foster parent said Miss Scarlet is well-behaved and isn’t nervous around other people.

“Over the last week, just teaching her that we’re going to feed her her own food, I think it’s helped her a lot,” Stott said.

If it weren’t for her skinny physical condition, you’d never known she was starved near death.

The Humane Society said Miss Scarlet should be ready for adoption in another four to six weeks.

She’ll go through more observation and a strict diet until she gets to that healthy weight.