They were so small and dirty.
The cardboard Lay’s chips box left at the SPCA of Petersburg & Colonial Heights was clearly not meant as a donation. For one thing, it was already open.
When a staff member peeked inside, their heart sank. Nestled on an unplugged heating pad were seven tiny puppies, so young that some of their eyes had yet to open. The morning temperatures had dropped into the low 40s, and if the box hadn’t been discovered in time, the outcome could have been tragic. Fortunately, the staff member rushed the box inside and immediately began cleaning and warming the puppies.
Without their mother, caring for the puppies would be an enormous challenge, so the SPCA reached out to Richmond Ruff House for help.
“We are a foster-based, all-volunteer rescue, which means we could bring them into our homes to make sure they were fed every four hours,” said Cindy Larkin, director and cofounder of Richmond Ruff House, in an interview with The Dodo. “They’re doing GREAT! They’re receiving regular feedings and gaining weight. Within 48 hours, all of them had opened their eyes. They’re going through a full can of milk replacement formula each day.”
Despite the puppies thriving with regular bottle feedings, the rescue knew that nothing could replace the nurturing care of a mother. So, they introduced the pups to a foster dog named Libby.
“Since Libby was still nursing her own litter, we decided to see if she would accept the new babies,” Larkin explained. “She immediately started cleaning them up and even laid down for them, but at first, they wouldn’t try to nurse. By about 3 p.m. that day, they finally latched on.”
Though the initial meeting was a success, it quickly became clear that Libby, a small Whippet mix, couldn’t handle nursing both her own eight puppies and the seven new ones. The puppies, believed to be bully mixes, were much larger and would drain her physically. Still, Libby continued to care for them in every way she could, even if she couldn’t nurse them all.
“She kept checking on them and cleaning them up,” Larkin said. “She definitely acted like a surrogate mother … just without the feeding.”
As the puppies grow, the rescue will continue bottle-feeding them until they are ready to start weaning. Once they’re old enough, they’ll receive their vaccinations and begin the search for forever homes, where cardboard boxes will be used for moving— not for shelter.