The owner of an elderly dog, who is almost completely blind and deaf, said it’s a “miracle” she survived by herself for nine days after going missing from her Surrey, B.C., home.
Sherri Storoshenko has had her dog Sheba, a Labrador and pit bull mix, for her whole adult life.
“She’s quite the character. She’s so full of adventure, she loves to go outdoors with me,” Storoshenko said.
“She’s my sidekick, 100 per cent, she’s always by my side.”
Until she’s not.
On April 1, around 8:30 p.m., Storoshenko was packing for a recent camping trip and somehow Sheba and her other dog got out of the yard. Her other dog stayed behind but Sheba decided to go for a wander.
It only took five minutes for Storoshenko to notice Sheba was gone, but that was enough.
With Sheba being almost entirely blind and deaf, she cannot hear her name or respond well to a voice coming from a certain direction.
“It makes it very hard to find a dog who can’t hear or see,” Storoshenko said.
She launched a desperate search for her beloved dog, involving her friends and neighbours. They put up posters and called Petsearchers but Sheba was nowhere to be found.
By day seven, Storoshenko was convinced she was never going to see Sheba again.
But then on April 10, the ninth day Sheba was missing, she received a text message from someone named Nicole who said she had found Sheba.
Storoshenko said she was skeptical but after talking to Nicole, and she mentioned Sheba had a cyst on her eyelid, Storoshenko was filled with the hope it was her dog.
“The second I saw through the door that it was her, I broke down in tears and dropped and was a big, bawling baby,” Storoshenko said.
Sheba was very dehydrated and emaciated but otherwise OK, Storoshenko said, just a little confused.
“It’s truly a miracle.”