It's a Boy's Life

This little guy and his 11 brothers and sisters were abandoned in an old cemetery last weekend. They were 3-4 weeks old and not yet weaned from their mother. They were left in the heat and the rain with a handful of food and spilled water.

Luckily they were found. By a friend of a woman who runs a pet rescue group. She took all 12 in, syringe fed them all replacement milk and got them eating solids. They were tiny and need of a lot of love.
We sell our eggs to the woman who runs the rescue, who also owns a children's second handshop down the street from us. We went there on Wednesday and got the whole story and spent 30 minutes outside playing with them- bad idea for 4 kids and a mom with weak hearts when it comes to animals. We all wanted one. But then there was the $125 adoption fee. So we left to think on it. But they reminded me so much of my Bailey as a puppy that I kept thinking of them.


Wednesday night, one took a turn for the worse. He was on IV fluids, force fed formula and very lethargic. I fed him when we visited on Friday and he was pitiful. We chose the one we wanted to adopt when they were ready.

Saturday at noon I got a call. All the puppies were sick. Some were eating, some were not. Most likely with Parvo- which can be devastating in puppies. She wasn't equip to handle round the clock feedings for 12 puppies. She had to take them to the shelter in an hour and wanted to know if I still wanted one. She said she'd give it to us, just to promise to get it neutered. We decided to take our chances, not wanting to send them all off to their deaths.

We brought him home and he was pitiful. But he was eating. Weak, had lost a lot of weight in the day since we had seen them. But we forced formula on him. Paul brought Pepto and pedialyte home. By night he was begging for food and playing. He kept us up all night- we have him in the bathroom- because he was lonely. He's eaten 2 cans of food in a day and a half. I'm not sure what they had was Parvo or not, his recovery was so quick. I'm cautiously optimistic. We plan on taking him to the vet tomorrow to get him checked out and make sure he is healthy enough to be around our other animals.

Somewhere out there, there is a person who owns a dog. A dog that will probably have more babies. More babies they won't want to take care of. More babies they will essentially kill because they refuse to get the mom spayed. We are blessed to have a clinic just down the road from us that offers low cost spay/neutering. They even offer free vouchers and reduced fees for low income. They also take in and rescue the unwanted. Our pup's brothers and sisters didn't have to die. There were people who would have saved them, if only they could have stayed with their mom a little longer and been given a chance to get strong and healthy.