An animal shelter has shared the reason why a 5-week-old pit bull puppy was surrendered to it by breeders who no longer had any use for the tiny pup.
Michigan Animal Rescue League (MARL) is accustomed to taking in new animals in need of a home, but when Ophelia was brought to them with a leg deformity, they knew her story would be a little different from the others.
Tommy Sanfilippo from MARL told Newsweek that the people who previously had Ophelia were breeders but “had no use for a deformed puppy.” The shelter believes that she was born without her back paws and instead has “tiny little toes that barely protrude” from her legs.
“Since the breeders could not make a profit off of her, they decided to leave her at a shelter,” Sanfilippo said. “She has no back paws. After several consults, our veterinary team suspects that Ophelia was born that way.”
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After she was given to the shelter, MARL has taken care of Ophelia and treated her for worms to get her back on track. As she learned to accept her new environment, MARL helped the puppy grow in confidence, and she began showing her playful side. MARL has also encouraged her to start walking and building strength in her back legs.
Birth defects can occur in between 0.2 percent and 3.5 percent of all canine births, according to research published by Merck & Co. in 2018. While congenital abnormalities are considered infrequent, they can include serious defects of the heart, skeleton or hip; elbow dysplasia; or neurological defects.
Veterinary medicine has greatly improved in recent years. VCA Animal Hospitals says that while euthanizing a deformed or restricted dog was once the immediate response, efforts are now made to help the dog and help it live a comfortable life instead.
If an animal has a birth defect or develops a disability, veterinary care focuses on ways to relieve its pain, eliminate any problems it might have and develop its mobility. There are many ways to help a disabled pet live a happy and fulfilled life according to its individual needs.
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Ophelia is now in a foster home and is learning to thrive in her new surroundings, which MARL hopes will become her permanent home one day.
Sanfilippo said: “Ophelia is currently in foster, and it would be extremely surprising if this doesn’t turn into an outright adoption. For medical cases, we will often do foster-to-adopt agreements, to help mitigate medical costs for potential adopters. This helps the animal find their forever home quickly too.
He continued: “We receive wonderful updates from her foster family almost daily. It’s been great to see her learning, growing, and enjoying new adventures.”
A video showing Ophelia’s journey was posted on the MARL’s TikTok account (@mi_animalrescueleague) on May 20, and it’s generated over 153,000 views already. There’s been a huge outpouring of love toward Ophelia, which the shelter is very grateful for.
“The reaction on social media has been overwhelmingly positive,” Sanfilippo said. “Our online presence helps us connect with some great people, which is important because the care that we are able to provide to Ophelia and others like her wouldn’t be possible without the generous folks supporting our mission.”
The viral video has amassed over 26,000 likes and more than 300 comments. Many social media users celebrated the possibility that the pup has found a home.
One user commented: “What a sweetheart! Thank you for saving a breeder’s throwaway.”
Another comment reads: “I hope you have a wonderful life full of love and happiness Ophelia. Keep working hard kiddo.”
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