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A 10-month-old puppy was found starving and moments away from organ failure.
She could hardly walk or stand because of how little muscle she had.
She was brought to an animal rescue center in Granada, Spain.
The owner of the center, Eduardo Rodriguez, named the pup Barilla, the type of spaghetti, after seeing how thin she was.
She was seen by a vet who told Eduardo that Barilla's chances were slim.
He still wanted to try to do something for the puppy.
"She’d been so starved of food and water when we took her in that all she could move was her head and her tail."
"I’ve been rescuing dogs since I was a child and I’m used to seeing them in a bad way but I’ve never seen an animal in such a terrible state as Barilla."
She only weighed 16 lb. and was put on a drip for six hours before they could start feeding her.
She was also given a harness to support herself since she couldn’t stand on her own.
She was fed from a basket on the ground and after a week she had gained 8.8 lb.
Still, she couldn’t stand for long before crashing.
For the next seven weeks, Barilla was fed, loved, and cared for.
And it started to pay off.
Eventually, Eduardo adopted Barilla and she now lives with him, his wife, 14-year-old daughter, and five other dogs.
"Her will to live was amazing and I felt a connection with her the moment I saw her. Her recovery has been staggering. From the third or fourth day, she was eating five or six times a day and putting on 2 lb. a day in weight. She's now up to 46 lb. and is on the road to a full recovery."
The center still doesn’t know how Barilla ended up in her previous condition.
"We were called by the local police who said the man who had her had supposedly found her like that," said a worker at the center, Victoria Molina. "You'd expect a dog who was living on the streets to eat from the rubbish so we think she's been locked up somewhere and deprived of food and water."
Eduardo is determined to find out who did this to Barilla and have them held responsible.
"For me, this is a unique case and we want to get to the bottom of what's happened."
"It may be difficult to prove who is responsible because Barilla didn't have a microchip, but we and the local police are going to try."
"I was in a state of shock when I first set eyes on her. The vet said several times during her recovery that he'd never seen such a swift transformation and that most normal dogs would have died."
Barilla is now living the life she always deserved and is thriving.
Whatever her past, she now has a loving home who will continue to do everything they can to make her the happiest dog alive.
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