At the age of just six weeks, Tuffy received the worst abuse we’ve seen a dog endure. But he recovered, and over the past months has grown into a happy and healthy dog. His recovery was helped by the following acts of kindness – which changed a story of cruelty into one of hope.

Read more: Boiled alive and thrown off a balcony – this is how a miracle (and miracle workers) saved a brave dog named Tuffy

1. Instead of ignoring Tuffy’s plight, as he lay four floors down from the balcony he was thrown off, burns on 60 per cent of his body – Yan Yingying picked him up. When the local vet she’d first taken him to couldn’t deal with Tuffy’s problems, she kept looking for a solution – finally finding Animals Asia.
2. Animals Asia decided Tuffy could be saved, and started on weeks of dedicated work. Animals Asia donated all of its nursing care for free – including the eight days of intensive care the Vet Team pulled him through initially, followed by weeks more of attentive care.

3. Dr Alane Cahalane, a specialist surgeon from the Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Hong Kong – who has consulted and performed surgery on Animals Asia’s bears – flew in for one day to perform Tuffy’s first surgery, on a pro bono basis. She released his eyes, which could not close, and his legs, which had been fused to his body by the burns.

4. Dr Kieren Maddern, of Veterinary Anaesthesia and Pain Management Consultants, also consulted for free, with ideas on wound care and pain management for Tuffy.

5. Ms Yan made him feel loved – visiting him as often as she could, cradling his small face and cooing “guai guai” – an affectionate term for good.

6. Animal lovers in China who heard about Tuffy online donated 20,000RMB (over US$3,100) to help with costs.

7. A retired Chinese paediatrician flew from Beijing to see Tuffy, and helped transport Tuffy the first time he got to go home.

8. “Team Tuffy” have been sending custom sweaters to cover Tuffy’s furless little body – one lapsed knitter even returned to the hobby just for Tuffy!

9. Ms Yan’s cat has kindly chosen to share all of her best sleeping places with Tuffy, and the two have become best friends.

10. And perhaps, the most important kindness of all – Tuffy chose to give people a second chance, and again become the happy and friendly puppy he started life as.

As Animals Asia Vet Mandala Hunter-Ishikawa said: 

“He had a choice to hate people, he had every right to not let us touch him or be afraid of people. And yet, he shone. He showed his true strength of character and his fighting, tough spirit, with a little bit of goofiness added in. He loved people. He just wanted to be with you and sit on your lap, even if that caused him pain initially. One day, two weeks in, he barked at us through the glass when he saw us – and we almost cried. That was the day he got his voice back!”

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