December 4, 2021

The mother of a collapsed, comatose puppy told us everything we needed to know.

She held her anxiety in her shoulders, in her mouth, and most of all in her eyes, which were filled with the greatest sorrow–a mother watching her baby dying. But her posture alerted neighbors to look more closely at the grey mound in the grey soil and saw the little one still breathing. He twitched unconsciously.

The little one was in critical condition and we hurried him to the hospital, and treated him for life-threatening hypothermia (cold), pain, and gave him IV drips to stabilize him after shock. He had no fractures but we cleaned and dressed several puncture wounds on his neck. He was still comatose when we lay him bundled in a basket, and he slept through the night. In the morning, we were delighted to find his eyes open: he had woken up from the coma!

Now the next task would be to get him to eat–if he would eat we knew he had a good chance of surviving. Watch life return to little Snuggler, and his return home to his busy siblings, and his beautiful mom and dad.