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hose who say the world is held together by duct tape could find their poster child in a young Oriental resident named Maya. During the month of May, the chocolate Lab’s hind leg has been sporting duct tape. No utilitarian gray duct tape for Maya, though. Instead she’s worn an array of flashy colors and patterns – fluorescent orange hot pink, cammo and dots among others.

Maya, sporting the two-toned duct tape look, with her owner, Lauren Bell outside Oriental Village Veterinary Hospital. She’d just had a fresh layer of duct tape applied.

These are not merely a frivolous fashion statement, but a part of Maya’s recovery from a flesh-eating disease.

For her pluck in surviving that — and for the community response in helping her and her owner, Lauren Bell — Maya is the June Pet of the Month.

It takes a village. Maya getting attention at the veterinarian’s office in Oriental in early June. A few days later she underwent a skin graft surgery in Cary to ultimately make the duct tape unnecessary. Area residents have contributed $1200 so far towards the $2000 cost of that surgery.

Maya just turned one on June 1st and it’s been a big first year. From almost the start, Maya was a sea pup. Maya first lived with Lauren Bell’s boyfriend, Mark Hancock, who captains the fishing trawler “Lady Anna” out of Wanchese. When Mark went fishing for a week or two at a time and lived aboard the boat, so did Maya.

“He would take her shrimping down south and fishing up north,” Lauren says, “She’s definitely a boat dog.”

Lady Maya on the “Lady Anna” before the duct tape and the scratch-prevention collar were necessary.

When the boat got too small for Maya, she came to live permanently on land, in Oriental, with Lauren. Oriental’s Camp Creek is a pretty good place for a chocolate Lab to live and things were going fine until one day in April.

Another accessory for Maya: an inflatable collar to keep her mouth from reaching far behind.

No one saw an actual encounter, but from what happened next, it’s thought that Maya was bitten by a brown recluse spider. Lauren Bell says she came home from work and saw that Maya’s back leg was swollen. She immediately took Maya to veterinarian Sherri Hicks at Village Veterinary Hospital.

Dr. Hicks says that at first, she thought Maya had been bitten by a snake. It is that time of year; in just one week in May three dogs have come to the clinic suffering from snake bites. But Maya’s case was different.

Maya and her team at Oriental Village Veterinary Hospital, Jessica Brown, Dayna Hardison, Amanda Foster and veterinarian Dr. Sherri Hicks .

“I’ve never seen anything this bad,” the veterinarian says. There was swelling, and bleeding, and then pieces of Maya’s leg turned purple, her skin disintegrating and falling off.

The suspected culprit is thought to be a brown recluse spider, whose bite can cause skin and flesh to deaden. The name for it is necrotizing fasciitis, a condition as nasty as it sounds.

Photographs taken at various steps along the way have shown the progress of the disease and then the progress of recovery. (Those who wish to view this – by clicking here – should be forewarned that it is not pretty.)

Dr. Hicks and her team managed to stop the spread of the NF, with very little loss of Maya’s actual muscle. Some of that wound has closed up, but not all and a triangle of Maya’s back leg is without skin. The flesh is healthy, but exposed.

It takes some teamwork to apply new duct tape to Maya’s hind quarters. Here, veterinary assistants Jessica Brown, Amanda Foster and Dayna Hardison at work.

Which is where the duct tape comes in. Maya’s been coming to the OVVH twice a week since early May, to get her bandages changed and a new application of duct tape – to keep the gauze bandages in place. She’s had hot pink tape, camo tape, fluorescent orange and dotted tape.

The duct tape doesn’t appear to be holding her back. When Lauren brought the chocolate Lab by the clinic one day last week, Maya was in constant motion, barely standing still for a photo.

Maya walks without much difficulty despite the duct tape and wound.

On a visit to the vet’s, Maya gets curious about two kittens that were up for adoption.

Duct tape can only go so far, though, and a more permanent fix was necessary. This week, Maya underwent skin graft surgery at Veterinary Surgical Referral Practice, in Cary. Dr. Jack Gallagher moved skin from her abdomen to cover the flesh. Maya went through the operation well and is now recovering. (Her latest duct tape color – while the stitches do their thing — is bright purple.)

The surgery is estimated to cost $2,000. That’s on top of the approximately $1500 bill for the weeks of care at the OVVH; veterinarian Sherri Hicks says she tried to keep the bill down by charging at cost.

Maya greets Dr. Sherri Hicks. Maya’s recent medical challenges do not appear to have affected her tail.

She says that Lauren has paid for most of that bill already, coming in to the clinic to pay with tips from her waitressing job at Gary’s Restaurant in Arapahoe. Lauren, who is 19, also works as a nanny in New Bern and has been attending Craven Community College. She hopes to eventually get in to a nursing program.

Because that specialty surgery bill is so high, Dr. Hicks set up the Maya Fund to help Lauren defray the costs. So far, more than $1200 has been raised. Those who would like to give, may do so via cash, check which they can drop off at the Oriental Village Veterinary Hospital or by credit card. Wendy at the front desk at OVVH can be reached at 249-2149.

Lauren Bell and Maya near the front door of Village Veterinary Hospital, which they’ve passed thru many times since Maya’s suspected brown recluse spider bite in April. The photo was taken on Maya’s first birthday, June 1, for which the chocolate Lab gives a celebratory tongue curl.

And even when she will no longer need the duct tape to hold things together, Maya will remain the June 2012 Pet of the Month.

Despite the serious flesh-eating disorder she suffered, the year-old Lab keeps smiling, and has loads of energy.

Maya’s Bio

Celebrity Pet Most Resembles: Sonia Braga
Likes: The attention at the vet’s

Fashion Dislikes: Inflatable collar, Elizabethan cone, gray duct tape.
Favorite Fashion Accessory:Bright colored duct tape
Preferred Way To Be One With The Water On a boat (being that she grew up on a trawler.)
Hates hearing: “Time to put your cones back on!”
Least Favorite Thing To Do: Spider hunting.
Favorite Thing To Do: Turtle hunting. (The bite’s not as bad.)
Favorite food: Hot dogs, pork chops
Favorite Ancient Civilization: Mayan
Movies She Doesn’t Want To See: Kiss of the Spider Woman; Spiderman

Know a pet that is a standout? Send in some details and a photo to info@towndock.net. Tell why that pet deserves the coveted TownDock.net Pet of the Month Prize Package --- accolades, a pat on the head (snakes excluded) and a box of Milk Bones ( or snack suitable for the species). We regret that we cannot offer a college scholarship to Pet Of The Month winners. Animals caught near the HarborCam attempting to suck up to the judges will be disqualified.