Rescued Belle leaves dark days behind
A BLIND cocker spaniel that spent five years in a cage before being rescued from a puppy farm has had her sight restored, thanks to big-hearted dog lovers.
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A BLIND cocker spaniel that spent five years in a cage before being rescued from a puppy farm has had her sight restored, thanks to big-hearted dog lovers.
Belle, 6, was one of 244 dogs seized by RSPCA inspectors in a raid on a Wondai puppy farm in 2009.
Despite being blind from birth, Bella was bred from constantly for the puppy trade which is based primarily on "pretty" breeds such as poodles, cocker spaniels and beagles.
Milena and Boris Butovski of Macgregor on Brisbane's southside fostered Belle and a beagle called Lizzie when the RSPCA sought help finding temporary homes.
In August, Michael Bernays from Animal Eye Services at Underwood removed a cataract and implanted an artificial lens in Belle's right eye.
Her first look at the world terrified her.
"It was really scary," Ms Butovski said. "She was afraid of her bed, afraid of the letterbox and flowers.
"We made a big mistake at first when we took her home to reunite her with the other dog a big fight started straight away."
Ms Butovski said Belle had a second eye operation last month, which also was a success.
"As much as I thought Belle was a confident and relatively happy dog before, the transformation after the second surgery was huge," Ms Butovski said.
"There was no more fear of strange things and she started running like a little racing horse, playing with a ball and showing an interest in everything. She is like a big puppy now.
"The trust that you see in their eyes makes every cent (more than $5000) ... worth it."
Ms Butovski said no dog deserved to be kept in a puppy farm where they were neglected and mistreated.
"Belle was completely blind for five terrible years while forced to produce litter after litter of puppies, very likely genetically predisposed to blindness as she was," she said.
"When rescued, she didn't play with any toy nor had an interest for anything but food and affection."