As we exited our car, a medium sized black dog sauntered up to our car. "Oh, LOOK! You guys have a dog!"
Our cousin was quick to *correct* us: "I do NOT have a dog!"
"Okay. So whose dog is it?!" we inquired.
"I don't know, it just showed up about a few weeks ago. She was obviously pregnant, and we felt bad for her...so we've been giving her food scraps and water. Now, she won't leave...and she's living under our house. And it appears she's had her puppies...but we haven't seen them. They could be anywhere..." as she trailed off, looking out into the vast acreage they live on.
Exactly 5 minutes later, the kids FOUND the puppies...under a car. FIVE of them, (initially...and a single puppy was found (later the next day) in the forest framing their land).
As we pull the puppies from under a little red car, the Mama dog comes over...and the puppies scrambled over to her for some nutrition. Mama's teats were engorged, so I'm sure the puppies were ravenous.
"Looks like you have a dog now...AND some puppies!!"
Our cousin was beside herself, as this was the first time any of them had seen the puppies. The Mama was last seen pregnant by her son 2 weeks prior, but her fiance' insisted it had at least been 3 weeks. We were surprised that none of them seemed to CARE that there were puppies out there that needed to be found and cared for.
"I guess I'll go ahead and buy some anti-freeze for them to drink to 'deal with' this 'problem,'" she mumbled.
WHAT?! You can't DO that, we insisted.
But she was convinced that killing the puppies was the only 'solution' for her. "We can't afford all these dogs, and I certainly don't want 7 dogs hanging out on our property...pooping and attracting flies," she shared.
So (like suckers) we took one, 'saved one.' We chose a girl (since we had 2 female dogs at home already). It was St. Patrick's day, so we named her Clover.
Clover was approximated to be about 3-4 weeks old (according to my cousin and her family about the last time the dog was seen pregnant). So we decided to formula feed Clover once home.
Clover has adjusted to life in our household nicely. There was an episode of cough/gagging...where she was looking very weak and appeared to be quite sick. After a quick Google search, her symptoms appeared consistent with worm infestation. And considering her 'background', that was not an unreasonable possibly.
So we went up to the feed store and purchased some D-worm. Gave it to her. And after a day or two, she was all better. A week later, she seemed to have a mild recurrence of gagging/coughing - so she got a second dose of D-worm. We also treated all the other dogs. Following these two administrations of D-worm Clover's abdomen immediately went from being distended to normal. And our previously "fat" puppy was all skin and bones. Evenso, she appears healthy and happy.
And a week after her recovery, she received her first set of shots - administered by Ian.
Today, she is doing great. Much bigger, shiny coat, playful, healthy, and friendly.
She appears to be mixed with lab and pit to me. Both are great family dogs, so we're hopeful that Clover and the family are in for a long great relationship.
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