Megan Kendall has fostered almost 200 dogs over the past nine years and she’s familiar with animals that are hungry and sick and fouled with their own feces.

But Kendall had never seen a dog like Mercy.

The female German shepherd, nearly two years old, weighed 36 pounds, barely half what a healthy adult of that breed ought to weigh.

Mercy, rescued earlier this month from a Baker City home, was so filthy that a professional groomer washed her three times, after an initial bath at a veterinarian office following the dog being removed from its former home, to wash away the feces matted into her fur, Kendall said.

Kendall, who is a volunteer with Best Friends of Baker, needs a single word to describe Mercy’s condition.

“Horrifying.”

The dog’s former owner, Christopher Harrison, 22, of 1695 Auburn Ave., Baker City, was cited and released on Monday morning, Feb. 17, for second-degree animal neglect, a Class B misdemeanor. On conviction, the charge has a maximum sentence of six months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine, according to a press release from the Baker City Police Department.

Police learned about the dog’s condition on Feb. 11 from the groomer who bathed Mercy, which started the investigation, according to the press release. 

Kendall said Mercy apparently was kept tied to a couch for extended periods. She said she has seen photos of Mercy as a puppy, and the dog appeared to be normal and healthy then.

In addition to being emaciated and filthy, Mercy — Kendall named the dog — had an open wound on a front shoulder.

The dog also is blind.

Kendall first met Mercy on Feb. 10, a couple days after Harrison surrendered the dog. 

Kendall said Mercy was treated initially at the Animal Clinic of Baker. Kendall said she picked up Mercy on Feb. 10 from the groomer who bathed the dog.

Four days later, Mercy “looks like a different dog and is looking better every day,” Kendall said.

“She’s curled up in my lap right now,” Kendall said during a phone interview on Friday, Feb. 14.

When Mercy isn’t there she’s apt to be eating, Kendall said.

“She’s 100 percent obsessed with food,” Kendall said. “She’s like a baby bird.”

She said she has fostered other malnourished dogs — though none so severely — and the effects, with the dog constantly searching for food, can continue for weeks or months.

Mercy’s situation is complicated, of course, by her blindness.

Kendall said that when she wakes up in the morning and approaches the crate where Mercy sleeps, the dog immediately starts sniffing.

“She can’t see me, but she hears me and starts looking for food,” Kendall said. “It never stops.”

Given Mercy’s emaciation, Kendall said she has to feed her frequently but in small amounts because the dog can’t tolerate normal meals.

So far, Mercy has eaten dry food, because canned food is too rich.

“She’s learning to trust that food will be provided regularly,” Kendall said. “As her weight and health stabilize I’ll gradually increase the volume and decrease the frequency of her meals, until she’s eating two full meals just twice a day.”

As of Monday, Feb. 17, Kendall estimated that Mercy had gained seven to eight pounds.

“She’s still so shockingly skinny that I feel self-conscious about taking her in public,” Kendall said.

Despite her ordeal, Mercy is “so sweet,” Kendall said.

“She’s being showered with love,” Kendall said. “A lot of people are worried about her emotional state because she was pretty shut down, so I’m happy to report that she’s beginning to come out of her shell.”

Kendall suspects that Mercy’s blindness resulted from malnutrition. There are rare genetic conditions that can cause blindness in dogs, she said, so it would be impossible to say for sure that Mercy’s loss of sight was caused by malnutrition.

Kendall said that in response to a post on her Facebook page, people within four hours had donated every item on a “wish list” for Mercy, including blankets, and a harness and vest for blind dogs.

Kendall said Best Friends will be searching for a permanent home for Mercy. That will be a challenge considering Mercy’s special needs as a blind dog, she said.