Two Minutes to Midnight – The tale, in progress, of 4 day old Chihuahua Puppies
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To set the stage: This is a picture taken yesterday, Nov. 5, 2024. It is of the lone surviving puppy about which this story is focused.
At 9 AM Thursday morning, Vicki Fowler received a call from a Fayette County resident. It was a lady who related the story of her nursing chihuahua mother that had been killed by a car. The dead chihuahua mother had two puppies that were four days old.Apparently distraught, the lady said that she was unable to properly care for such young puppies without the assistance of the dead mother. She said that she didn’t know what to do other than bring the tiny puppies to the Fayette Animal Shelter. The lady and the puppies arrived at the Shelter but it was clear to the Shelter assistant that one of the puppies had died and the other would soon follow if immediate attention was not given.
The Shelter staff knows about FOTAS (Friends of the Animal Shelter) since we have volunteers at the Shelter three days each week. Since this was happening on a Thursday morning, our members would be arriving for a Shelter work day in a few minutes but it was decided that the owner should call one of our contact numbers. It was Vicki’s number.
When the call was received Vicki and husband Steve were on the way out the door to take their own dog, Bear to Starkville for a post surgery consultation. It was clear that time was of the essence. Intervention must be coordinated immediately if the little puppy was to have a chance. The decision was made to put out an urgent plea across the FOTAS Facebook community to appeal to anyone who might be able to help. The vision was to enlist the help of more than one person and that the time-intensive duties could be shared, thus, creating less burden on any one person.
Vicki had VERY recent, first hand experience with time sensitive puppy intervention. She and other FOTAS volunteers made the assessment that 5 tiny puppies that were at the Shelter recently could not survive without intensive care given off Shelter premises. She and the Shelter director agreed that the puppies would die if they stayed at the Shelter. Vicki took them home and began the adventure known locally as the “Tail” of the 5 Puppies. The survivors, Petey and Marlow, have become quite famous and, as you know, Marlow is still gracing the FOTAS Facebook page almost every day. That will continue until he is adopted.
So it is within the context of the similar experience with the 5 puppies that a plan was devised to save the surviving chihuahua puppy.
Before leaving for the MSU Veterinary School, a quick “Red Notice” call to action was designed and published calling for immediate assistance. Within 10 minutes calls and messages literally began to POUR in. Offers to help came from Winfield, Fayette and even as far away as Tuscaloosa. Offers to buy and deliver supplies were made. Special goats’ milk, ideal for tiny creatures, was offered. Bottle feeding and intensive puppy care, around the clock were offered.
Under “most other circumstances” a combination of the offers would have been accepted with tasks divided out among all the volunteers. That plan would have resulted in ideal care without any one person sacrificing more than a day or two. In fact, FOTAS is developing a plan to have a group of volunteers, pre identified and ready to spring into action when such a need arises again. We will have a scheduler to work with the times volunteers have available and we will even have a prepackaged set of supplies that cover all the needs for such an operation for the first two or three days.
As it turned out, this wasn’t like “most other circumstances“. The amazing reality is that within minutes of the call-to-action a young man from Berry, Caleb Emberg messaged Vicki. He advised Vicki that he was on his way to pick up the surviving pup and do what was needed for its survival. Uh…WHAT????
A million questions popped into Vicki’s head. Who is this young man? Does he know what he is doing? Why is he offering to do this? Is this a good idea to bypass all of the offers from older adults, some of whom we know, to allow this young fellow to take this responsibility???? Caleb wasn’t asking permission. He was advising Vicki that help was on the way. WELL …OK… GULP!!!
While Bear was receiving his post op evaluation bits and pieces began to come in from Caleb that gave every indication that he was up to the task. Not only “up to the task” but maybe the most well-suited of all the offers. Not because other offers were inferior but because he leaped into action so quickly and with such confidence.
Naturally in a crisis there isn’t a lot to lose but as a fiduciary to her group and to the pets and to the Community, Vicki wanted to glean a bit more information about Caleb. They exchanged a few messages and he sent the following concise, description:
” I’m 24 and I’ve been around dogs all my life. I’ve rescued many from shelter, off the side of the road, and out of bad homes throughout the years of all different ages. Me and my mother have a big soft spot when it comes to puppies. My grandmother used to raise boxers when I was growing up so I’ve been through all the stages including pregnancy, labor, delivery, and raising from newborn to adult. It’s just a small passion of mine to help out with them when I can.
I have overheard many say that today’s generation doesn’t have what it takes to preserve America. They say that the “Greatest Generation” were the men and women who were called to fight tyranny in World War II. The causes in later wars may not have been as clear to average Americans but I spoke to a Viet Nam Vet last night who was just as heroic as defenders of Freedom in any other conflict. That being said, this young man, Caleb, and the other young people who give of their time to help the animals that cannot help themselves, are just as heroic.
The latest information that we have on “TP” the tiny chihuahua, is that Caleb located a family with a chihuahua that had given birth recently. That family agreed to see if the “mother dog” would nurse the orphan “TP” ( short for “tiny puppy”). Caleb says that, so far, the chihuahua mother has adopted TP, at least for now, and that there is hope. Sometimes an adoptive mother dog will turn on puppies. We have seen cases, however, at the Shelter where the adoptive mother dog, like Teresa that we highlighted a few months ago, nursed the adopted puppies until they were out of danger.
If you would like to make comments or offer to join our “Go Team” that will be positioned to care for puppies like these in the future, message us, call us, email us or so state in the comments.
A MASSIVE THANK YOU to all of the people, so many of you, who dropped what they were doing to call or message their desire to help. It is gratifying to know that so many people are so decent.
We will post updates on the saga of TP and the amazing young man who took decisive action and gave a chance for life to a puppy for which time had almost run out.
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I would love to adopt one of the pups my daughter has always wanted a small dog we have a husky and 2 cats
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