Liberty & Lycan

Pulling puppies from a shelter can feel like a race against time. Shelters are stressful for any dog, but young puppies are more vulnerable to risks such as extreme weather and viruses, like the highly contagious parvovirus.

Parvo can linger in exposed areas for months; it causes vomiting and severe diarrhea which quickly leads to dehydration and, if not treated in time, it can be fatal. While dogs are vaccinated against parvo, many of the puppies in shelters are too young to be completely vaccinated and thus are highly susceptible to infection.

At the end of June, four shepherd mixes - Lycan, Liberty, Lotus, and Lucian, arrived from one of our shelter partners in Mississippi. Shortly after they arrived, both Liberty and Lycan started exhibiting symptoms of parvo and were rushed to the vet. Lycan’s foster said she will never forget the sad, terrified look he gave her when she dropped him off. She told him she would not give up on him and to fight as hard as he could.

Treating puppies for parvo does not guarantee a recovery, but after several days of treatments including IV fluids, anti-vomiting and anti-diarrheal medications, and pain medication (totaling a staggering $10,000), both were recovered enough to be released.

Liberty quickly showed her spunky personality, but Lycan, who had been much sicker, took a little longer to find his footing again. When he started to show his spunk a few days later, his foster was finally reassured that he would be okay. After a two-week quarantine, our smart, snuggly, feisty survivors Lycan and Liberty were ready for adoption. Their sister Lotus had been adopted, and it didn’t take long to find the perfect families for these pups, too.

Their parvo scare is now only a memory, Liberty (Libby) and Lycan (Riggs) are where they belong, living amazing lives with their furever families.