Loyal Dog Spends Over 3 Months Waiting At Hospital For Owner Who Passed Away From COVID-19

"[Xiaobao] didn't know and just stayed in the hospital looking for him."

Cover image via AsiaWire/New York Post & Tribunnews

For more than three months, a very loyal dog waited at a hospital lobby in Wuhan for his owner who passed away due to coronavirus

In February, an elderly man brought his dog to Wuhan Taikang Hospital and was admitted after testing positive for COVID-19. Unfortunately, the owner passed away five days later.

According to Fox News, the dog refused to leave the lobby and survived on scraps that the staff would give him until 13 April.

Wu Cuifen, who runs the hospital's supermarket and had returned to work in April after the lockdown was lifted, told reporters that she decided to look after the dog temporarily.

"I first noticed the little dog when I returned to work in the middle of April. I called him 'Xiaobao'," Wu said, adding that staff told her his owner had passed away

"[Xiaobao] didn't know and just stayed in the hospital looking for him.

"He never left the hospital. It was incredibly touching and so loyal."

Even when she tried to drop the dog off far away, he always found his way back to the hospital and would patiently wait to be reunited with his owner, unaware that he was never coming back.

"Every morning when I opened up, Xiaobao would be there waiting for me. He saw me off at the end of each day," Wu said, according to Metro UK.

Nurses eventually contacted Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association where Xiaobao was treated and sterilised to prepare him for adoption

On 24 May, the association's director Dr Du Fan said that they are currently vetting potential owners for Xiaobao.