After three months of TLC from the Richmond SPCA, Lionheart was adopted by a loving family.

Lionheart has earned his name.

This little dog overcame huge obstacles and is now being rewarded for his endurance. According to the Richmond SPCA, Lionheart was surrendered to the Virginia shelter in April. Shelter workers were told that the dog, who arrived matted and covered in feces and urine, was 7 years old and that he had spent the past two years living under a bed.

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The Richmond SPCA immediately went to work, providing Lionheart with the affection and the medical care he’d been deprived of for years. The first step was to remove all the painful, dirty mats covering the dog’s coat and preventing him from walking and eating correctly. The shelter’s staff spent three hours carefully removing pounds of fur from Lionheart, until the sweet dog under all that filth was revealed.

Free of his excess fur, Lionheart was assessed by the veterinarians at the shelter’s Susan M. Markel Veterinary Hospital. The doctors found that years of neglect had taken their toll on the pup.

“After Lionheart was shaved and his nails were clipped, we assessed the damage that years of neglect had done to him. We tended to Lionheart’s sores on his skin, performed a dental to relieve him of terrible, untreated periodontal disease, neutered him and treated him for internal parasites,” the shelter said in release about the impressive pooch.

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Between Lionheart’s spirit and the devoted care of the Richmond SPCA, the dog was able to recover from his years alone under the bed. Three months after arriving at the shelter, Lionheart left the Richmond SPCA as a happy, energetic, healthy canine with a forever family.

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