#2 The Five L-Pups

04.14 Emma & Matilde in Skiathos 0 Comments

On our second day of working at the Shelter we came in early in the morning to find a box filled with 5 of the sweetest, smallest, tanned pups. It became clear that there would not be room for them at the Shelter at the time as they were too young to be with the other pups. A few hours later we were bringing the puppies home with us. We named them Libby, Lizzy, Lola, Louie and Lorenzo. Instantly we felt the huge responsibility that comes with caring for puppies (five of them nonetheless!). We were staying up with them in the nights and waking up before the cockerels in the morning. After about a week we noticed they started to get weaker and would not eat, then diarrhea and vomiting followed. As they were very dehydrated, they needed to go on drips as soon as possible. With help from Barbara (from the Shelter, whom we also lived with) we managed to get three of the Dutch veterinary students (who were volunteering on the island at the time) and different medical equipment to the house. Our living room was now transformed into a small vet room with the drips hanging from the curtain rails (!). It soon became clear that they had contracted the deadly disease Parvo, and especially Lorenzo was very ill. As the night approached the remaining four puppies seemed to be perking up a bit due to the drips, but we were sure that Lorenzo would not make it. But as luck would have it, as morning came all five pups had made it through the night and were feeling a lot better – even Lorenzo! For the next few weeks we kept medicating and monitoring their behaviour and luckily all was fine. All pups were getting bigger by the second, developing individual personalities, becoming more and more playful and were quite the handful by now: A month had passed and they were now ready to go back to the Shelter. Their return to the shelter was hard for the five homesick puppies, who by now had become very attached to their two mummies and in return we were left with a now clean and empty apartment and a case of empty nest syndrome! All pups are now thriving at the Shelter, ready to find their new forever homes.