Lily, a 3-year-old mixed breed was found by an HSNT employee and brought to the shelter for care as she appeared to be days away from delivering.
Unfortunately, like many animals who enter our care, Lily had not been previously microchipped, and was put on “stray hold.” Our shelter staff administered vaccines, a microchip, and a heartworm test. They also did an x-ray of Lily’s abdomen, which confirmed she was pregnant with an estimated ten puppies. Lily (and her puppies) needed a foster home to go to, and quickly. After multiple calls, emails, and a social media post, we found a foster willing to provide Lily with a temporary safe haven away from the shelter where she could welp and wean her puppies.
On April 24th, Lily’s foster hero drove from east Dallas to our Saxe Forte location in Fort Worth, TX (a 90-mile trek roundtrip) to pick Lily up and take her home. Within 24 hours, Lily had given birth to eleven puppies; sadly, only eight survived, which is common with larger litters. Fast forward three weeks, and Lily and her eight puppies are doing great! The puppies are growing and playing, and Lily is keeping her little ones fed and learning what it means to be a dog. Lily and her puppies will remain in foster care until they are weaned. Like Lily, the puppies will be vaccinated and microchipped, and all, including Lily, will be altered before finding loving homes.
Fostering an animal or animals for the Humane Society of North Texas is a tremendous service that saves lives. It is so much more than an alternative housing solution and provides pets with a calm, stress-free environment to decompress from the trauma they endured. It also provides pets, like Lily and her puppies, with the opportunity to experience life where they can receive love, learn to trust humans, play with toys, and go outside, among other things. We are grateful for all of our foster heroes and appreciate their commitment to helping save and enrich the lives of pets!
If you are interested in serving as a foster, please contact foster@hsnt.org.
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