Momma plus four! A success story

Submitted by EARS volunteer Brenda Bunn of Peterborough, Ontario

As a volunteer of UAN, I was deployed to Montreal in December 2008 for what we refer to as bust #3 (bust #1 and #2 were in September and October 2008). As the founder of LOYAL Rescue, I ended up taking 23 dogs into my group's care. Of the 23, 22 have since been released by the mill and six pups were born into rescue (we took two pregnant dogs). We now have 28 dogs up for adoption, and three have already been placed.

When I arrived, I was asked to take care of the "puppy and special needs room" which is where all the young dogs or special needs dogs were kept. One of the dogs was Coco, a Pekingese who appeared to be very lethargic and older. She didn't need any medication, but just seemed to have "shut down" emotionally so was put in the special needs room. She was checked by the vets three or four times while we were there and the vet stated "maybe" she's pregnant but more likely she's old, has lived through enough and has had it.

When it was time to go, I had my truck packed full of crates floor to ceiling and ended up with one empty crate. I had nowhere to put one more dog in rescue but Coco was tugging at my heartstrings so I knew I could not leave her behind. She ended up coming home with me just days before Christmas.

Christmas morning I awoke to three Peke babies! Momma seemed to have shut down, once again, so I got all the babies settled and tried to encourage momma to feed. When I did this, I found baby #4 was in the midst of being born, but appeared to be stuck. After a few seconds of panic I helped momma to deliver the baby and here we are, eight weeks later and momma and four babies are all doing amazingly well.

Coco has responded incredibly well to living in a home with affection, attention, medical care and love. She's no longer emotionally shut down and loves to play with her babies -- they've made her young again. This time around, her babies get to stay with her until SHE'S ready to stop feeding them and SHE'S finished training them, not when someone snatches them from her at four or five weeks of age.

Coco is being spayed in a few weeks and thankfully, for this momma and her babies, the cycle has stopped.