Tasha’s Pups

ADOPTED! October 11, 2018

Snotty, Bat Girl (adoption pending) and Sean Jr are the most adorable mixed breed puppies you may ever see. Their mom, Tasha, was lost over the fourth of July holiday from loud fireworks booming in her neighborhood and she ran away. She ended up at the City of Cleveland Animal Care & Control facility hoping her owners would come claim her. She did have a tag on which allowed animal control officers to track down her home and leave a notice but her owners were unable to receive it by the time she was legally available to leave the facility for adoption or rescue. We were notified the kennels were overfull as they are during this time of year from all the stray animals who run away during fireworks and we headed down there and took in Tasha, Mary and Whoopie to make room for other incoming dogs.

When we got back to our facility with the three girls they got kitchen sink baths and that is when we noticed Tasha’s belly. We suspected right away she might be pregnant so one of our volunteers took her to Gateway Animal Clinic and it was confirmed she was ready to have 4 puppies any day and sometime within the next two weeks. This news changed things drastically for where Tasha would be spending her time in foster and we had to find a foster provider willing to care for her and her puppies for 6-8 weeks. Last year we had a pregnant dog come in and we were fortunate to have a local couple care for her and her pups so we knew exactly who to call.  This would become Alysse and Eric’s third time fostering and weening newborn puppies for our organization. This sort of commitment is not for the faint of heart and it certainly comes with a lot of emotional ups and downs along the way.

Tasha was picked up and moved into her foster home on a a Friday and early in the evening she started “making these weird little snorts” Alysse reported to us via text with a video to accompany it. Shortly after midnight Tasha went into labor and four adorable puppies were born!

Tasha’s motherly instincts kicked right in and over the next three weeks she cared for her youngsters, became especially protective as a new mom would be and things were progressing as normal. Sadly, on August 3 we received word from Eric one of the puppies was struggling with her breathing and was rushed to the clinic. Apparently while nursing the pup took too much fluid in and some of it went through the wrong pipe causing aspiration pneumonia and the best option in that moment was to choose to ‘respect the dog’ and humanely euthanized her.

Many thanks to her veterinary caretakers who helped newborn puppy ‘White Socks’ cross the rainbow bridge.

And then there were three: Snotty, Bat Girl and Sean Jr.

After the emotional roller coaster Tasha, her three remaining puppies, and human caretakers carried on with their mission to keep everyone healthy and happy. Fast forward to the third week of August and Tasha is ready to move on and leave her puppies behind so Eric and Alysse can continue to care for them while we screen applicants to place the trio in September. The puppies are all quite active, playful and eating watered down newborn puppy food to keep them properly hydrated and full of good nutrients. The puppies will start receiving boosters and continue to receive boosters if they are moved into forever homes. They will be spayed sometime between four and six months of age.

Now what about Tasha? Shortly after we took her in the kennel called us to let us know her owners had come to claim her only to find out she was taken in by a rescue. Not fully understanding the process but hopeful they could be reunited with their dog we called to let them know the situation with their dog being pregnant and nearly giving birth at the animal control facility. They were in shock that she was pregnant but after some thinking were able to identify a time when she got loose and came back to their porch and they found her back end “soaking wet” but didn’t think much of it at the time. We asked if they had seen the other dog that she was with and they reported it was some sort of Doberman/Bully mix that they didn’t know or had seen before. We then explained the situation with having to keep Tasha and educated the family on the importance of spaying and neutering pets (and keeping them contained) which they were receptive to. Their young daughter very much missed Tasha and they wanted to have her back. We agreed that when she was ready to be separated from her puppies if they were agreeable to paying for the fees associated for her medical care and spay we would certainly rather her go home than go through another life transition. We have since been in touch with her family and there should be a homecoming planned before Labor Day weekend (ironic, right?). Tashsa is not able to be spayed at this time but we are committed to spaying her and will make sure her owners understand the contract agreement they have with us and have that done before Thanksgiving. If for any reason her original owners do not adopt her she will be available to adopt.

If you are interested in adopting one of the puppies please fill out our online adoption application. If you have previously applied to adopt and we have your application on file please send us an email. If you have applied and your application is on a “hold” status (not processed yet for placement) we will give preference to those who have applied over new incoming applications. Ultimately all applications will be screened, processed and the best homes for the puppies will be chosen. Due to the popularity we anticipate we can not guarantee responding to every application and ask that everyone respects our process and understands we are a volunteer operation with many other dogs and responsibilities to care for each day.

FOSTER HOME REPORT: