Cherokee County Animal Shelter: Disaster Response and Recovery Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
Vaccines, heartworm tests and dewormer for 350+ canines.
It allowed us to properly vaccinate (upon intake) all the dogs from a puppy mill.
How many pets did this grant help?
359
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
On a stormy July afternoon, and well into the night, Cherokee County Marshals, Cherokee County Animal Control and Cherokee County Shelter staff impounded 359 dogs and seven rabbits from a wooded property within the county. These animals were not being properly cared for and were confined in spaces too small for the number of animals housed within them.
One of the dogs from this case was a 4-year-old red-and-white female Siberian husky the staff named Nadia (which means “hope”). Nadia came to the shelter very pregnant and also very anemic. Soon after impound, she became very weak and was sent to a local vet hospital for a check-up. An x-ray determined that she had seven babies in her uterus and was due to deliver any day. The same day, after returning to the shelter, Nadia went into active labor, and within a few hours gave birth to two pups. Due to her weakened state, she was unable to deliver more puppies after several hours of tiring labor. Staff rushed her to the veterinary emergency hospital, where she was prepped for an emergency cesarean-section delivery. She was able to give birth to her other puppies naturally after IV fluids and a little rest. Over the next few weeks, Nadia was fed a special diet many times a day to build her body back to a healthy state.
Soon after official relinquishment of the dogs, the staff found a rescue group to take eight of the huskies that came from the puppy mill, but they couldn’t part with Nadia and her babies after all they had done to save her. Nadia was a great mom, nursing her babies and helping them grow. All the staff and volunteers spent time with her and played with the babies, and each of them had a special place in their hearts.
The staff found special adopters for each of the puppies and then one of the puppies’ families called in to ask about Nadia. The couple was older and very worried about Nadia not being adopted, so they asked to adopt her as well. The staff was thrilled! The couple came in three times a week for almost a month to see the dogs and get to know them before they were ready to go home. The day that Nadia and her baby, Sasha, left for their new home was full of lots of happy tears … from the staff and the adopters!
