A Festivus Miracle! (or, Good Golly, Miss Molly!)

Right now I’m using the dial-up-speed internet at the airport. We’re off to see family for Christmas. The boys are safe and sound, tucked away at a “pet resort,” where I know they’ll have fun even though I’ll worry about them every minute between now and the second we pick them up.

But this post isn’t about that. This post is about the Festivus Miracle that happened today.

Remember that little dog I mentioned the other day?

Here’s the scoop: There’s a middle-of-nowhere marsh near John’s lab where people dump dogs. Sadly, it happens often. When John sees them, he either tries to catch them, or he calls it in. He never has luck (with either tactic, unfortunately) , and the attitude people in that area have is, “Isn’t it annoying that people dump their dogs?” Annoying. Huh. That, to me, is heartbreaking. But, again, another topic for another day.

So, Friday morning, John spots this little puppy. He gets out of the car, and she play bows! She hopped right in his car, so instead of going to work, he turned around and drove (a whole hour…) back home.

Her eye is seriously infected with something. She had fleas. But she is seriously the friendliest puppy I have ever met. She waggles with her entire body, from her nose to the tip of her tail. I took her to the vet on Friday to get the eye checked out, and I talked to one of the lovely techs who works in rescue. She was going to put out a message to her contact list that night. In the meantime, I took her back home and crated her separate from the boys – the vet said she had to be separate for 14 days – and we quickly fell into a routine of taking her out, playing with her, playing with the boys, baths for the fleas, eye medicine, back to our boys, puppy back outside, and… whew… all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Meanwhile, we were calling everyone trying to figure out what to do with her because this week we were heading out of town for Christmas. We told the shelter and everyone we spoke with that we’ll foster her for as long as it takes to find her a family but we needed something, anything for the few days this week.

Every single person we know in Louisiana (not that many…) was going out of town for the holiday.

The shelter thought they could maybe hang onto her, but they only have 16 kennels and have about 10 dogs per kennel and she’s not spayed. We have no idea of her vaccination history. They said they’d call us back. (Never did.)

We spoke with the pet sitter who was taking care of Newt. She said she could help as best she could, but since it’s the holidays, she’s fully booked and could probably still come by only twice a day. So the little dear would be in her crate for 23 hours a day for the week. Not good.

Then, a Festivus Miracle!

Our vet had a crate open in their ICU! They can keep her separate from the boarding dogs. They will continue to take care of her eye. They will give her a full annual exam with vaccinations! AND KEEP HER ALL WEEK! Safe and sound, tucked in a crate with round-the-clock care. All that came about at 10:30ish this morning. John rushed her over there immediately while I finished getting everything ready at the house. He got back, we loaded up the boys, took them to the pet resort, and now, here we are, at the airport.

Whew.

A total whirlwind, but an honest miracle.

I’m so happy and relieved  and can’t wait to get back home to find this little angel a loving home. She is seriously THE happiest puppy I have ever met. (She wagged during all four flea baths!!)

OH! And we named her Molly! 🙂

Hope your holiday week is off to a peaceful start!