Zaras List

July 26, 2007

"Yeah, she got adopted but then they brought her back because she was sick." We were staring at a skeletal frame that barely looked alive. A 1.7lb Chihuahua who wouldn't even get up. She barely raised her head. It was hard to believe she was alive.

The first time we saw her frail body was in a cage at the back of the shelter. She was slowly dying because even though she'd been adopted at some point rather than seeking treatment for simple kennel cough, her family had just returned her to the shelter that was already overwhelmed by a summer of people dumping their dogs before they went on vacation, before they moved or before they simply decided "they didn't have enough time for the dog." She was returned to a shelter where she would more than likely die not because the shelter didn't care but because the people who adopted her didn't care.

But that's where rescue comes in. It's just kennel cough that has made it's way to pneumonia. She's a tiny Chi who will weigh 4-5lbs when she's healthy. She was emaciated, she was dehydrated and she was dying. It will take some work. She looks scary and her first few days with us, it was scary because we just didn't know if we had made it in time. You hope. You do some praying and then you wait. But this little girl had an angel watching out for her. Maybe it was the rescue's favorite officer who said it was ok to release her after hours so she didn't have to spend one more night in the shelter. Maybe it was the rescuer who just couldn't walk away and pretend that she didn't exist. Either way, someone cared. She was given a promise that we'd do whatever we could to help her live and we did...Watch as our little Promise recovers in our rescue.