Manning couple finds dog shot in face

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When Travis and Whitley Carraway arrived at their Manning home on Monday afternoon, Travis whistled for their dog, Suki, as he always does. "We saw a blood stain on the porch" said Whitley Carraway. "But we thought maybe she was in heat. He called and whistled for her like normal." Suki was not in heat. When the dog came out from under the porch, it was a clear her problems were much more serious. "Her face was dripping blood," Whitley said. "Her nose had a big hole. All he could think was, 'Wait a minute. Someone shot my dog.'" Whitley said she thought at first maybe the dog had been injured with a pellet gun. Her husband disagreed, saying the extent of the damage had to come from birdshot or buckshot. "The injuries were to the back of her head, her eye, her nose, almost everything on her head," Whitley said. "We called the police and they came out and made a report." The couple took Suki to Morris Animal Clinic. "(Wayne Morris) confirmed that it was a bullet by doing X-rays," Whitley said. "They confirmed it was buckshot and they gave us the bullet for evidence." Whitley said Morris told her the bullet had traveled through the dog's nose and into her mouth, "busting her whole jaw open." "All her teeth on her right side had to be removed," she said. "She's all sewn up on that side." Whitley said she and her family want to know who did this to their pet, a 6-year-old bulldog that is more likely to rub up against a stranger than bark at one. "Who could do something like this?" Whitley said. "She's not an aggressive dog at all. She doesn't even bark unless it's to tell us that someone is here. If you get out of your car, she rubs on your leg. She's not a mean animal." Whitley said she and her husband are frightened by the gall of the perpetrator in coming into the yard. "What concerns me the most is the blood trail we found, there was no blood coming from the road. The only trail was on my porch and cement in my yard. Did someone come into my yard to do this?" Whitley said she's also concerned for her children. "We have kids, and we try to explain to the kids that this has happened, but at the end of the day, they're still safe," Whitley said. She said a day after Suki was shot, she's having trouble eating and drinking water. "She's trying to lap up the soft food we're giving her," Whitley said. "You can see her barely able to drink water because of the hole in her nose. It's been difficult for her." Whitley said Morris will have to continue to check the animal's mouth to make sure it heals properly. "We have four different medications, including eye drops for her eyes, although I think she may be blind in one of them now," Whitley said. "We have antibiotics." Whitley said that she hopes the public will pray for a speedy recovery. She also hopes someone will come forward if he or she knows who shot Suki. "We want to find out who did this and why," she said. "Other than that, we will be praying for a speedy recovery." Carraway said a friend posted the information to various social media groups, including the Sumter Pets Facebook group, where manninglive.com staff first noticed it. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office at (803) 435-4414.