Dog News

METRO UPDATE: Emaciated Pit Bull Puppy Adopted by Paramedic Who Saved Her

by Melanie

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1.15.13 Metro Update21
A happy Norine Hoch getting to take Metro home.

Last month we brought you the story of Metro, the skin-and-bones puppy who was left to freeze outside the door of a Buffalo animal clinic.  The pit bull is now thriving and on her way to her forever home, safe in the loving arms of one of the paramedics who rescued her from certain death.

On a cold night in November, Norine Hoch and partner Breanna Horwood were driving past Dr. Hector Andersons’ Inner City Animal Hospital when they noticed an abandoned puppy on the doorstep.

“As my partner was pulling into the driveway, all of a sudden, she started going, ‘Oh my God!  Oh my God!’  It was, like, 32 degrees outside, and she was skin and bones,” said EMT Norine Hoch.  “If we [had gotten there] seconds later, she probably would have been frozen to death.”

They knocked on the door, and were met by a custodian who told them that he had already called the SPCA, and then closed the door in their faces.  He would not bring the dog inside and made no attempt to provide food or shelter.

Thankfully, Hoch and Horwood did.  They rushed the nine-pound, six-month-old puppy to the SPCA, covering her with blankets and applying heat packs on the way.  She could scarcely hold her head up.  It took hours for the SPCA to measure, but her body temperature registered 10 degrees lower than normal.

“Her lifeless little eyes were just yelling out for help. It was scary,” Hoch said.

“She actually had seizures.  It was heartbreaking,” said Ronnie Podolefsky, an SPCA board member who became a foster mother to the little dog.

1.15.13 Metro Update
Norine Hoch lovingly holds Metro, as foster mother Ronnie Podolefsky looks on.

 

But now Metro, named in honor of the Rural/Metro Medical Services crew members who saved her life, is flourishing.

“She’s got spirit and heart to survive all that,” Podolefsky said.  “She tripled her weight.  Put food in front of her, and she inhales it. … She’s a very smart little girl.”

Hoch knew from the moment she saw Metro that she wanted to adopt her.  Podolefsky sent pictures of Metro to Hoch, showing all the progress she was making.  Metro, who is being renamed Abby, looks remarkably similar to Hoch’s three-year-old pit bull, Molly.

“They could pass for twins,” said Katelyn Pietrzyk, Hoch’s daughter.

Pietrzyk recently moved into her own place, and took Molly with her.  But she promised to visit so she and Abby could play together.

After waiting a month-and-a-half for her to recover, Hoch happily brought Abby home yesterday.

“She will definitely be spoiled,” Hoch said.

In addition, Rural/Metro donated $750 to the SPCA’s Yelp for Help Fund, which takes care of ill and injured animals.