A Fight for Life: How You Were This Family’s Hero

What started as a routine rescue quickly became a fight for life for a mama, Nala, and her unborn babies. But Nala’s story started months before when she was picked up as a stray. In January, our friends at Habersham County Animal Control received a call about a small dog wandering the streets, eating from garbage cans, and sleeping under random porches. They picked her up, took her into their facility, and soon realized they’d rescued more than one dog. It soon became apparent Nala was pregnant.

No one showed up to claim Nala, so Habersham reached out for help. Knowing she was pregnant, and living in a stressful situation, HSNEGA’s team agreed to take in Nala and she went to a foster home to await delivery. Days went by with no babies, so HSNEGA’s clinical team sent Nala for an x-ray which showed 10 babies! The number of babies was concerning since Nala is a petite pup at only 20 pounds so round-the-clock monitoring began.

More days passed, and still no signs of labor. Then, while monitoring their heart rate, Dr. Feroli noticed the babies were starting to go into distress so the HSNEGA team performed an emergency c-section. Miraculously, all the babies were alive when taken from Nala, but that’s when their fight really began.

Nala recovered well but had a hard time nursing. HSNEGA’s team members and generous fosters began bottle feeding the puppies to help her. Sadly, even with bottle feeding round-the-clock, six babies wound up passing away within a few days due to the stress of the situation. The deck was simply stacked against this family after a life of neglect.

HSNEGA reached out for help and the Society of Humane Friends of Georgia, a rescue partner experienced in bottle-feeding newborns, stepped in to take the remaining four babies while Nala went back to foster care to heal from her surgery and broken heart.

The puppies new foster mom fought extremely hard to keep the remaining babies alive, but even with her very best efforts, two more puppies passed away. Nala continued to heal in her foster home and soon was able to return to be adopted.

The two remaining puppies continued to grow and thrive under the loving care of their Society of Humane Friends’ foster mom. Their foster mom named them Yogi and Boo-Boo and, finally, after 13 weeks of foster care and more than 4 months after their mama was rescued, Yogi and Boo-Boo reached 3 pounds and were ready to be adopted. Being so adorable, they quickly found new families to love them!

This special case is just one of countless saves that result from many organizations and individuals working together. From the compassionate team at Habersham County Animal Control to the pawesome HSNEGA clinical team and foster families to the dedicated team and fosters for Society of Humane Friends of Georgia to the donors, adopters, and all the other big-hearted individuals who support these organizations, a huge community of huge hearts made this rescue happen! Thank you all for being a part of our life-saving family!

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At HSNEGA, we want to remember the amazing rescues that come to stay with us. All of the animals pictured on this site have been with us at some point. Some have already found their forever homes, but some may still be here at HSNEGA! The Humane Society of Northeast Georgia is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization (Federal Tax ID #58-0678817) and has received top recognition from the following charity rating organizations:

Best of Georgia, GreatNonProfit & GuideStar Seals