An abandoned and injured dog recently found along U.S. 31 in Limestone County must have thought he had nothing left to lose.

The dog, dubbed Bobby McGee after the Kris Kristofferson song “Me and Bobby McGee,” was covered in hundreds of ticks and had worms, mange, an injured foot, a bullet hole in his shoulder and head-to-toe buckshot from a shotgun blast.

Peace, Love & Animals, a no-kill shelter in Tanner, took the dog in and then began to address the canine’s many problems. When the dog is well enough, he needs to undergo surgery to remove the bullet in his side.

In the meantime, all his treatment has been very expensive. Therefore, the shelter is trying to raise $2,000 through the crowdfunding website GoFundMe to help defray the costs. As of Friday, Aug. 26, 15 donors had already raised a total of $610 in 19 hours.

If you wish to give, visit the GoFundMe website at https://www.gofundme.com/2mspw25v.

Bobby’s story

Misti Cooper, with Peace, Love & Animals, posted the dog’s story to the shelter Facebook page.

“Our hearts have been totally broken by this precious baby,” Cooper wrote. “Bobby McGee was found on the side of Highway 31 and (we) assumed he was hit by a car. He could not put any weight on his left front leg and cried terribly when you tried to pick him up. Since it was late on Sunday, we took him back to the shelter to clean him up and remove the hundreds of ticks. Tonight, we could give him something for pain and get him in to the vet first thing in the morning. As we were gently giving him a warm bath, we noticed dried blood on his left shoulder. After washing it away, to our horror we discovered a bullet hole in his shoulder. I cannot understand why, this baby is so sweet.”

She said the dog’s medical investigation consisted of X-rays, skin scraps, blood work, ears check and heart worm test. The dog’s problems just kept piling up, she said. A bullet had entered the dog’s left shoulder, crossed the spine and was lodged in the muscle on the right side. The injury also broke Bobby McGee’s left shoulder.

“At this point, it is a major surgery and records have been sent to Birmingham,” Cooper wrote on Facebook. “I simply refuse to just amputate because he is such a young dog and I want to save his leg if there is any hope at all. We also saw in the X-rays that he had been shot with a shotgun. His body was covered from head to toes with buck shot. …His left, back foot was swollen and deformed from so many pellets lodged in it. It is an old wound that cannot be corrected.”

Aside from this, both Bobby’s ears were severely infected and being treated. Though heart worm negative, he did test positive for Ehrlichia due to the tick infestation and is being treated He has demodectic mange, a yeast infection of the skin and hook and whip worms infestation, which are being treated, Cooper said.

“When we left the vet, poor Bobby McGee had a bag full of medications,” she said. “And, don’t forget, plenty of pain medications, too.”

For the next week or so, the shelter will focus on getting Bobby McGee in better shape before he undergoes surgery to try to save his leg. The surgery is costly because the shoulder is in several pieces.

“I just want this poor dog to know that life can be good and that no one is ever going to be mean to him again,” Cooper said. “He has suffered a life of abuse and neglect that no animal should ever know.”