Entered: 07/21/2001
Status: Adopted
Age: 2
Color: Black/white
Weight:
Gender: Altered Female
Location: Suffolk, VA
Health: Excellent
Temperament: Excellent – may be protective of food
Original:
A MAESSR Volunteer went to the shelter yesterday and pulled Pepper. She didn’t pull Pepper’s puppies. Why? Because the day before the puppies had been put down as a liability. The shelter knew that MAESSR was making efforts to find a foster home for her. However, they put the puppies down because they were impeding Pepper’s ability to be adopted.
When the volunteer tried to take Pepper from the shelter, she didn’t want to go. Pepper insisted on checking every run – looking for her babies. When she came to a run with puppies in it, she checked them very carefully to be sure that they weren’t hers.
Her story is sketchy. Pepper was taken from her family last November because of abuse and neglect. What the accusations were, aren’t clear. But, she was returned to the same family. About 4 weeks ago, she was taken from this family again. They had her tied to a post with a one foot lead and she was surrounded by chicken wire. She had the puppies the first night that she came in to the shelter. After caring for the puppies for 4 weeks, the shelter decided that they could no longer care for them or Pepper and chose to put the puppies down.
Our volunteer pulled Pepper and took her to her vet for care. Pepper is heartworm positive, but not showing obvious signs of infection yet. This bodes well for her recovery. She has general intestinal worms, we’re not sure what varieties yet. She also has bald spots, which may be ringworm, or just the result of matted hair pulling away from the skin. We’ll know more on her general health in a day or two.
Pepper has started her heartwrom treatment and is doing well. She is getting feisty and feeling better. Another MAESSR volunteer and her family are going to be adopting Pepper when her treatment is complete.
Update 10/01/01:
Pepper is doing well post treatment. She will be tested one more time this week. Then we will have her spayed and send her to her new home in a few weeks.
Update
Pepper has been spayed and is recovering nicely. She goes to her new home the first weekend in November.