ohmidog!

Veterinarians at the University of California, Davis, say they are confident they can improve the condition of Kabang, the dog who lost her snout and upper jaw when she jumped in front of a motorcycle, saving two little girls from harm.

Kabang arrived at the school from the Philippines last week, nearly a year after the accident, and was given an hour-long preliminary exam.

A mixed-breed dog, Kabang lunged in front of two girls — the daughter and niece of her owner — that were crossing a roadway in Zamboanga City. Her snout and upper jaw became caught in the motorcycle’s spokes, leaving her with only half a face.

An international campaign raised the money to bring Kabang to the United States for a consultation with veterinary reconstructive surgery specialists at UC Davis.

Vets at William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital don’t plan to fullyy reconstruct Kabang’s snout, or fit her with a prosthetic. Instead, they are attempting to close the gaping wound on her face, preventing further infections.

Kabang is expected to be at UC Davis for at least six weeks.

Veterinary surgeons Boaz Arzi and Frank Verstraete assessed Kabang’s overall condition and conducted blood and urine tests last week.

“We are pleased with what we discovered today,” Verstraete said. “We are confident we can improve her condition going forward.”

Arzi and Verstraete are consulting with Anton Mari H. Lim, Kabang’s veterinarian from the Philippines, who accompanied Kabang on the trip, to develop a treatment plan.

Kabang’s owner found her as an abandoned puppy in a paddy field, and, according to reports, initially kept the dog with the intention of feeding it to his family.

But his 11-year-old daughter and 3-year-old niece grew close to Kabang — her name means “spotty” in Visayan – and the dog became protective of them.

Arzi and Verstraete anticipate that Kabang will need at least two surgeries. The first likely would focus on dental work. The second would attempt to close the gaping wound on the dog’s face, protecting her from infection.

The veterinary hospital’s website includes background information on Kabang, and will feature updates on her progress. You can find a collection of photos of her arrival here.

(Photos: Veterinary medical student Heather Kennedy greets Kabang during an intake exam at William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at UC Davis; courtesy of UC Davis, by Gregory Urquiaga)

A Texas man who claimed to be high on the drug K-2 attacked a dog, strangling it and then starting to eat it, police said.

Michael Terron Daniel, 22, of Waco, was taken into custody Monday and charged with cruelty to a non-livestock animal, a felony.

The dog didn’t survive.

KHOU reported that Waco police responded to a call on June 14, reporting a man was “going crazy.”

Daniel had allegedly assaulted several housemates, then chased a neighbor on his hands and knees while barking and growling like a dog, police said.

Daniel then took a medium-sized black dog onto the front porch of the home, where he beat and strangled the animal and then “began to bite into the dog, ripping pieces of flesh away,” Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Officers found Daniel sitting on the porch with blood on his hands, clothing and face, Swanton said.

Daniel told police officers he was on a bad trip from ingesting K-2, and at one point asked that they shoot him with a stun gun “to help him get off his bad trip,” Swanton said.

His housemates declined to press assault charges against him, police said.

He is being held at the McLennan County Jail on $5,000 bond.

K-2, referred to as a form of synthetic marijuana, is a mixture of herbs and spices that is usually sprayed with a compound similar to THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, according to the DEA. Studies suggest it can cause extreme paranoia, hallucinations and violent behavior.

A 22-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy were arrested in Chicago after torturing five puppies and posting videos of it on YouTube, police said.

Joshua Moore, the adult, told police he did it because he was bored, and that he thought “it was not a big deal.”

The videos showed dogs — both the pups and their parents — having duct tape put on their testicles and ripped off, being suspended and spun in a harness, being forced to drink lemon juice and eat their own feces, and being thrown into air, choked and shaken.

The grown dogs were a Chihuahua and a terrier; the pups were mixes of the two, police said.

Moore and the boy were arrested Thursday and charged with animal torture and animal cruelty — all felonies. Moore was ordered held on $150,000 bail today.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the torture came to light when a tipster contacted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

PETA reported the cruelty to the Fort Wayne, Ind., Animal Care and Control officials on Sunday, after learning that Moore was from Chicago but living in Fort Wayne.

On Tuesday, officers in Fort Wayne questioned Moore, who they said admitted he was in the videos. When Moore returned to Chicago Thursday, city police arrested him.

The dogs were seized Thursday from a home in the Austin neighborhood and placed in the care of Chicago’s animal care and cruelty department.

The videos were removed from YouTube before the arrest, but PETA had made copies of them by then.

(Top photo: By John J. Kim / Chicago Sun-Times
Middle photo: Screen grab from videos, courtesy of PETA
Bottom photo: Chicago Police Department)