“We were contacted about the five puppies in distress on a private property 45 minutes west of Edmonton. All five puppies [were] severely emaciated and dehydrated,” Tessa Lee told The Dodo.

Lee quickly made her way over and was granted access to the property near the Alberta Beach. She was only authorized to gather the five puppies, despite there being other animals seen on the property.

The five puppies were frozen, and very close to death in the cold. Lee drove the puppies to her home, but could not be certain they would survive.

Lee was quick on her feet, thinking carefully of all she could do to help the poor dogs.

“I assessed their hydration levels, and put them on heat packs while administering fluids subcutaneously,” Lee said. “We relied on maple syrup to boost glucose levels and slowly began administering recovery wet dog food every two hours via feeding syringes.”

Through her holiday, Lee brought the litter of puppies back to health as best she could. Fortunately, Lee’s family understood her caring for the dogs. They have come to expect spur of the moment rescues after seeing Lee and her friends help animals in need at the volunteer-run rescue.

“Our families have come to expect some special animal guests joining us for Christmas dinner, whether it is a litter of kittens, puppies or even a ‘bottle baby’ lamb,” Lee explained. “We find that this time of year many people are traveling to be with family and therefore more animals in distress are noticed and reported. Our phones are definitely never off during the Christmas season.”

As Christmas Eve came about, the bottle-feeding and warmth seemed to do justice for all of the puppies – except one. While her brothers and sisters were recovering, this little puppy was struggling to even hold herself up.

Because of her red fur, Lee called the puppy Ruby. For Ruby, the next day could be the difference between life and death.

She is holding on and beginning to perk up,” Lee posted on WHARF’s Facebook page December 24. “Keep her in your thoughts and we will update everyone on her after the holidays.”

With great luck, Christmas brought a miracle. Ruby made it through the night and was finally on her feet.

“Merry Christmas everyone!! We have movement,” Lee wrote on Facebook. “This puppy didn’t have the strength to lift her body up yesterday. She is drinking water and eating on her own now.”

Support came from all corners of the web after Lee’s post. People even offered to take Ruby in!

. “At this point, Ruby’s condition is touch and go, and she is under 24/7 monitoring with us,” Lee explained. “The other four seem to be holding fast, we will be keeping everyone updated on Ruby’s condition as time goes on.”

While helping these puppies has been no simple task, Lee is more than happy to do it.

“Special cases such as these just require a huge dedication of time and effort, whether that’s waking up every two hours to feed them or monitoring alertness throughout the night,” Lee added. “Every animal deserves to be cared for and over the last decade we have done everything in our power to provide that to every animal that comes through our rescue.”

If progress continues as it has, Ruby’s siblings should be ready for adoption by some time in February!

For those interested in adopting a pet, Lee has some careful words of advice.“We urge people that are considering bringing an animal into their families to ensure that they are able to afford to spay/neuter their animal so situations like this no longer happen.”

Source: The Dodo

The post Woman Rescues Puppies and Witnesses a Christmas Miracle appeared first on PawSoCute.

Elyse Betschart, Jaxton’s mom, brought Jaxton to the Charleston Animal Society shelter to pick out two dogs to sponsor. This means using money to help pay the adoption fees for two dogs in need!

First, Jaxton saw a black and white pit bull mix with beautiful black patches around her eyes. While her name was Penelope, her features had Jaxton calling her “Spot”. This was the first dog he chose to sponsor.

While heading to the desk to work on sponsoring Penelope, Jaxton saw another cute pit bull. This pit bull was known as Tank!

“Mommy! He’s big and chunky just like me!” Jaxton yelled out, running over to the cage door and petting Tank’s head through the bars.

While Jaxton wanted to adopt Tank, he was unable to. Instead, he chose to sponsor Tank, just like he was going to sponsor Penelope! Jaxton was helping the two dogs get adopted and find loving homes.

Jaxton was very proud and excited about sponsoring Tank, and the Charleston Animal Society captured the cute moment and posted it to their Facebook. To no surprise, the photo went viral very quickly! The post got over 6,000 reactions with around 200 comments.

The attention Jaxton brought to sponsorship had many people wondering how they could do the same for the shelter! This brought in a ton of new interested donors and new sponsors. It was amazing how quickly Jaxton’s compassionate decision ended up helping many other dogs at the shelter.

Kay Hyman, the Director of Community Engagement at the Charleston Animal Society, said that the post ended up getting to around 200,000 Facebook users. Of course the image was cute, but it also helped spread awareness about sponsorship like never before.

Many people did not know that by sponsoring a pet’s adoption, you pay for the spaying or neutering surgery, vaccines, microchip, heartworm protection, and flea prevention for a dog at the shelter! By having these costs taken care of, new owners can come to the shelter, adopt the dog, and use their money getting necessary supplies for their new furry friend. By making things more affordable, more dogs can be adopted!

The Betscharts are a military family, moving to new places every three years (with 2 kids, 4 rescue dogs, and 2 rescue cats!). Because of the breed bans associated with military housing, pit bulls are not an option for the family to rescue. In the future, however, they wish to begin their own dog rescue.

Elyse knows that pit bulls struggle to find loving homes and often end up trapped in shelters. She is thrilled to know her son has such a loving heart, and cares to spread his kindness to animals in need.

“Animals are a huge part of our lives,” Elyse explained to iHeartDogs. “Knowing that my son was the catalyst for the community coming together to give shelter dogs a voice makes me feel incredibly blessed.”

“I feel like I’ve done my job – like I can retire as a mom!” she later said with a laugh.

If Jaxton’s actions have inspired you, head to your local shelter and sponsor a dog in need! You can also check out the CAS Adoption Sponsor page.

Source: iHeartDogs

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