Abandoned dog with broken leg raised pups ‘without hesitation.’ Meet ‘special family’
A dog with a broken leg kept caring for her babies — and now, the devoted mom needs a new home.
“This girl has been powering through probably the hardest time in her life (by far), but through sheer will and without hesitation, Lizzie has put her own welfare aside and managed to raise three perfect, plump, happy, healthy little puppies,” a North Carolina animal shelter wrote in a Facebook post.
As of Sept. 4, the mama dog named Lizard, also known as Lizzie, was available for adoption. Two of her three puppies had pending adoptions, Darci VanderSlik, director of communications for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Wake County, told McClatchy News in an email.
The “special family” landed at the Raleigh-area shelter after getting a rough start. The dogs reportedly were rescued from a bench after being abandoned there.
“When they were discovered, the finder only saw Lizzie at first — tail tucked and shaking like a leaf,” the shelter wrote. “It took a few minutes to realize that 1) she had three sleeping newborns tucked beneath her body and 2) her back leg was broken in half.”
The shelter said Lizzie may have been hit by a car. She and her newborn pups — named Chameleon, Gecko and Newt — were brought to safety.
“It turned out that Lizzie’s femur had snapped, and her hip was injured as well,” the SPCA wrote. “Not only had she been raising her 2-day-old puppies on a broken leg, she had given birth with it.”
Lizzie couldn’t have her leg amputated while she was nursing, so the shelter worked to stabilize it. She recently underwent surgery, marking her next step in her rescue journey.
“After all she’s survived, we hope a swift adoption will bring nothing but all of life’s sweetest spoils,” the SPCA wrote.
More details about the shelter’s adoption process can be found at spcawake.org.
This story was originally published September 5, 2024 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Abandoned dog with broken leg raised pups ‘without hesitation.’ Meet ‘special family’."
