As a Pit Bull puppy born with deformities, Sassy had a slim chance of surviving the kill shelter she ended up in, but her rescuers couldn't resist saving the affectionate girl, and now Sassy lives a life full of love.
A Pit Bull puppy born with birth deformities escaped death at a kill shelter in Manhattan, New York, and instead will live a life crammed with love and care. When her rescuers at Forgotten Friends of Long Island saw her intake photo, they knew that they had to offer the 5-month-old puppy at a Manhattan animal shelter a second chance. The puppy is known as Sassy and was born with serious medical issues, likely caused by backyard breeding. She has obvious leg deformities, and as her rescuers would later learn, other more complicated internal deformities as well . However, as imperfect as Sassy may appear on the surface, her caregivers say she’s perfect in every way.
Here’s Sassy’s story as shared by her rescuer on Sassy the tiny Wonder Facebook page: “More than likely a product of basement breeding, Sassy features a number of deformities – this was obvious once we saw her intake picture. What would be the chances of her having a chance? Once I saw her picture, among the various I receive on a day to day, I knew we had to intensify. We pulled Sassy and took her into our program supported the knowledge the medical staff at the shelter was ready to provide. She had leg deformities, grade 2 cardiac murmur, fever and a few wheezing – to not mention an enlarged cranium and underbite that just gave her that added character. Sassy may be a rambunctious 5 month old pittie pups who was become the Manhattan kill shelter because her owners couldn’t (or wouldn’t) affect her ‘health issues’. She is active, loving, affectionate, and spunky- just to call a couple of. Sassy may be a lot of things, but one thing she isn’t – a typical dog.
“I headed to select her up from the shelter right after work on a Friday night. It had been pouring! Within quarter-hour, one among the shelter workers came out with this tiny butterball of a pup – I looked down at my big carryall I had emptied before I left the office and instantly knew my plan of carrying her in there had just been squashed. “She was wrapped during a blanket and a jacket, and then the only thanks to hold her so, she was comfortable, was as if she was a football and that I had just intercepted a throw from the opposing team. The rain wasn't letting up, the public transportation doesn't allow animals aboard and so the friends whom I had arranged a ride with were a minimum of an hour away on foot. What the heck was I getting to do? How was I am getting to get her where we would have liked to satisfy up?
“I squatted under the awning of the shelter to regroup and to bond with her for a couple of minutes and to possess a touch chat with our girl. After about quarter-hour, and basically coming to terms with the fact I used to be getting to need to walk the entire way carrying the heaviest 18.5 lbs of my life, I search and – was I actually seeing an available cab, in NYC, in the pouring rain?! The cabbie allowed us in and that we were on our way. The traffic was atrocious and it took us over an hour to urge to the meeting point – but we made it, $45 later! “The fever and wheezing were a touch of a priority – had Sassy caught the shelter bug? Was it something she was surrendered with? Without hesitation, she was delivered to the emergency hospital where she underwent various preliminary testing. Blood work and X-rays were the most to return back. Blood was ok, but the x ray showed her trachea not sitting where it’s alleged to. This also now explained the wheezing – when Sassy gets excited it’s almost like she’s hyperventilating. She must be during a calm state all the time (or attempt to anyway).
“We admitted her to the hospital where she might be treated symptomatically and given oxygen to stay her comfy. That coming week, the specialists, and surgeons would even be ready to see her and assess her leg deformities and run various tests to ascertain what was happening inside. After a few days we received news we weren't expecting – Sassy is riddled with congenital deformities on the within, her legs are the smallest amount of her problems! Her trachea never developed properly, her sternum doesn’t lie where it’s alleged to , heart valve problem – I literally got dizzy from the list of what was wrong together with her . We hoped for, and gladly would have opted for, any surgery that might help her, to form her “normal.” But there was no viable option; any procedure risked her being worse off or loosing her life. Then came the words that nearly knocked me off my chair, “you have a difficult decision to make.” then the tears, ohhh the tears!”
“How do i consider putting this firecracker down when she’s so filled with life and has such a will to live? When all she wants to try to to is be on the brink of you and feel the safety of your presence? When at the very moment you both lock eyes, she’s supplying you with soft licks on your nose and cheeks? How do i not give her the prospect that's rightfully hers – the prospect to measure during a home, to be loved, to possess a warm bed and NOT be seen as an inconvenience or unwanted? We couldn’t bear the thought of it. So like our dear girl Love, we allow her to measure on her own terms. We take ever step necessary to stay her comfortable and supply what she may have . She runs, she jumps, she plays, has quite the attitude and has not a care within the world.” “We can only hope Sassy’s life and knowledge , and people like her, will function a reminder that these are precious, innocent lives that are being brought into this world. it's up to us to require care of them and fulfill the commitment thanks to them. It’s not okay to breed them for greed and to pad pockets, it’s not okay to over breed these poor mothers who don’t get an opportunity to experience comfort or love once they constantly need to bear babies. It’s not okay to increase the overpopulation of those animals when there are perfect ones waiting (and dying) within the shelters! And it’s never okay to discard them once they become a nuisance or inconvenience.”
“Sassy is many things, but during a word, Sassy IS perfect! She possesses traits that a lot of humans don’t have, she doesn't judge, doesn't hold grudges – Sassy lives and breathes unconditional love. Her physical ailments and limitations don't deduct from what she’s ready to feel and show. Sassy will live out her days, however many they'll be, being taught the worth of friendship, the sensation of unconditional love, what it seems like to be wanted (and accepted) which her imperfections just make her that far more special. While Sassy’s short life is simply getting started, her even shorter past is now a foreign memory.” “If being in animal rescue has taught me one thing, it’s that to urge through every day you would like a load of affection , a heap of hope and a sprinkle of Sass-y!” Sassy is now with an exquisite family where she is going to be loved and kept comfortable. she is going to be loved and “know the meaning of a warm bed, gentle hand and unconditional love and friendship.” Her caregivers write, “She will allow us to know when it’s time for her to earn her wings…”
Well, flash-forward 7 years (Sassy was rescued back in 2013) and Sassy remains going strong! It’s great to find out Sassy for her wonderful self and thriving as well as her family!