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What began as a simple walk turned into a rescue operation for a Vermont Good Samaritan.
He came across a box with nine abandoned pups squirming about inside. Their umbilical cords were still attached. They’d been born only hours before and the man who found them knew he had to act fast. He brought them to a small, local shelter, but they lacked the resources to take care of puppies so young, so they reached out to the Central Vermont Humane Society (CVHS).
“Within a few hours of being discovered, they arrived at our shelter, and we had prepared a room in our shelter specifically to care for them,” Erika Holm, director of operations at CVHS, told The Dodo. “We immediately started bottle- and syringe-feeding the wee pups, and figuring out a plan to make sure they were cared for around the clock.”
Sadly, no one knew what happened to the pups’ mom; CVHS has put out an alert to vets statewide, but so far there have been no bites.
“No one saw these puppies being dumped, and nothing about their condition gives us any clues to what happened to the mom,” Holm said. “We hope she is alive, and safe. We feel for her, and the pain she must have experienced when her puppies were taken from her.”
The puppies have to be fed every four hours and are manually stimulated to pee and poop. Staffers and volunteers have been working around the clock to keep them healthy.
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“We are optimistic, but still being realistic about their chances,” Holm said. “There are a few small ones, who definitely get more individual attention to keep them on track, and a couple pretty chunky ones. We all know their condition can change at any moment, but each day they survive makes us a little more confident about our chances of success.”
Now more than 10 days old, they’re still fighting to survive. Unfortunately, one of the puppies didn’t make it and passed away on Friday morning. Staffers and volunteers are staying positive and continuing to work to help the remaining eight fight the good fight.
Though it will be quite a while before they’re old enough, the hope is that they will all be strong enough to find loving forever homes.
If you’d like to help take care of these darling puppies, you can donate to the Central Vermont Humane Society to help finance their care.
