Blind, epileptic dog was found in box, thought to be dead — but now he’s made an incredible recovery

Animal rescues can perform miracles sometimes: even animals who are near-death can make an incredible comeback with the right love and care.

That was the case recently, when one rescue took in a blind, abandoned dog who was unconscious and suffering from seizures, but managed to completely turn his life around.

Earlier this week, Speranza Animal Rescue, in Pennsylvania, shared the heartbreaking story of a dog they took in. The dog had been left on a porch in an Amazon box — he was unresponsive and initially thought to be dead.

A note attached to the box described the dog’s heartbreaking backstory, explaining that he had an illness that the owner was unable to deal with:

“I am also deaf. I’m a very good dog but my last owner only had me for a month and wasn’t told I was sick. I ate something my last owner don’t know what wrong. Please help me. She loves me very much and don’t know how to help me because she doesn’t have any money because she is sick.”

The dog was alive, but unconscious and barely breathing, the rescue wrote on Facebook. The dog was extremely malnourished, covered feces and urine and his fur was matted. He was suffering from seizures and his pupils were not responding to light.

“He’s not even a year old. Just a baby,” Speranza Animal Shelter wrote. “He’s in really bad shape. Please pray.”

Rescuers gave him medication to stop his seizures, but it was still unclear if he would be able to pull through. He was given IV fluids and transported to the ER.

Thankfully, the dog — now named GI Joe — responded to the medications and slowly began to recover. He was seen by a neurologist and given an MRI to find the source of his seizures, and in an update the rescue said he was doing “great.”

GI Joe is deaf and blind; it is not clear if his vision will ever come back. But he’s made remarkable strides in his recovery: just days after being found near-death, he’s standing and eating on his own.