Pregnant Dog Starved On Purpose Is Saved, Now a Mom of 12 Beautiful Pups
by Kim Scaccia
My name is Kim; I’ve been working in dog rescue basically all my life. This last year in a half I’ve been working a lot online networking dogs through Facebook and sharing mostly local Euthanasia list to help dogs get rescued from the pound…. I was asked on December 21st, 2012 to go with a friend named Alyssa to our local pound to evaluate a dog named Trixie to see if she would be OK with Alyssa’s other dogs for her to foster until she found her a forever home. Once Alyssa agreed to take Trixie she was inside county filling out paper work.
I had just stepped outside to make a phone call when I notice this man bringing an extremely emaciated dog in, who we now call Saydie. He was carrying her like he didn’t care about her at all. Her front legs were straight out stiff; he had his forearm under her front legs with no other support with the other arm to hold any other part of her body. Her back legs were hanging straight down stiff.
She had a very strange look on her face, one I’ve never seen before on a dog that was just frightening to see. She was looking straight up with her mouth partially open, like a human would when they just got frightened to death and took a gasping breath in. He also had a nylon twine around her neck that was so tight it was choking her. You can see the pictures that have been posted when we first got her what she looked like and with the twine around her neck.
I asked this guy “what are you doing with this dog? Why is she so thin? What’s wrong with her, is she sick or did she take a stroke or something?” He replied with a chuckle, “I don’t know, I think she is just scared. I don’t know much about her. I work on an Alfalfa farm and my boss the farmer asked me to dump her off somewhere in the middle of the desert.” I asked him “when was the last time she ate? She’s extremely thin.” He said “I don’t really know, the farmer was trying to starve her to death because he didn’t want any more dogs. She is the only one that is still alive out of her litter all the rest of them starved to death.” I asked “has it been weeks, months, what??” He said “I don’t know, all I know it’s been a really long time, she was just ignored, we really never had any contact with her. She wouldn’t even come over to us” I said “Oh my God that’s disgusting, tell the farmer to get his dogs fixed so he doesn’t have any more dogs, that would fix the problem!”
I asked him again, “So you don’t know when the last time she ate?” He said “No, well we did give her a rabbit that we found yesterday, but she didn’t hold it down she threw it all up.” I said “you guys are really disgusting, how do you know if that rabbit didn’t have any diseases or rabies?” I asked him if he could just keep her for a little bit I would buy a bag of dog food, just please give me time to network her. He said NO! He said he wanted to drop her off at the pound he couldn’t keep her. I told him if he dropped her off, the condition she’s in and the way she looks, like she had a stroke they would probably put her down before he even left the parking lot. I also told him if he dropped her off, ‘DO NOT TELL THEM IT’S OWNER SURRENDER!!’. Strays have a 72 hour hold to where we have a little time to network them, owner surrenders they can put down immediately as soon as they walk in the door before the owners even leave the parking lot!!”
At this time one of the county workers came out because it was getting close to closing and asked the guy what are you doing with this dog? He said he was talking to me to see if we could do something else rather then put her in the pound. I told the worker that he found the dog and I wanted to find out if we could network her to find her owners. (I’m not a liar but in this case I had no choice, I felt bad but I knew it was a life or death situation.) Well I guess that pissed the worker off because he went in the building shut the door and locked it. This guy that had Saydie was so mad, he started banging on the window yelling “hey open the door I want to drop this dog off.” They ignored him and shut the curtains to where we couldn’t see inside.
I was crying, because my husband has extremely bad allergies and asthma and I knew he wouldn’t allow me to take her. The guy that had her said basically “hey this is your fault for talking to me so long, I’m just going to let her go right here. I don’t care what happens to her, I can’t keep her.” I told him “No please, I would take her.”
I tried to network her through my phone for 3 hours in the car that night driving around to see if someone could take her. Thank God my daughter’s friend said she would foster her. We kept Saydie one night and then brought her over to Ashley’s my daughters friend’s house the next day. She immediately warmed up to her, which was heartwarming. Saydie was such a frightened girl she wouldn’t even leave the crate at my house to go potty outside. I had to pick her up to take her outside.
After several weeks my daughters friend started to notice Saydie was always extremely hungry, she was putting on weight, etc. She was thinking it was just because she hadn’t eaten in so long. Once her nipples started getting bigger she called my daughter and said, “I think Saydie is pregnant” we were devastated. This poor dog has gone through so much and now she’s pregnant?!?!
My daughter Kamrie made Saydie’s Vet appointment, she and I took Saydie to the Vet, we were hoping it was a false pregnancy, but our fears turned into reality when the Vet checked her out and said yes she was pregnant. She couldn’t tell how many babies there were because she said they were already too big. She told us she would only have about 2 weeks left before she had them. So by our time calculation Saydie was pregnant a couple of weeks before this guy brought her to county.
I think they knew and didn’t want any more dogs so they wanted to dump her. Unfortunately there are so many sick people in this world that do this, dump dogs in the middle of nowhere to get rid of them. We have this problem in the South West Valley around the 101 and I-10 and also out in Tonapah [Nevada]. It’s very sad. All I can say is Thank God this guy had a little bit of a heart to bring Saydie to the county. It was a miracle that split second he was bringing her in, I happened to be there. I saw her beautiful face and felt so sorry for her. I could tell there was a beautiful dog inside that had lived a life of neglect and abuse.
Saydie’s original foster mom could only keep Saydie about a month because she needed around the clock care for her and her pups. She went to school and work full time and it just wasn’t going to work. I talked with my husband and asked him if we could take them in and he reluctantly said yes.
I have to give a Huge Thank You to my wonderful daughter, she has been a huge part of Saydie’s life. She is the one that helped network her that evening and asked her friend to foster her. She literally spent hours researching dogs pregnancies, how to assist in the birth of puppies, etc. We have never had a dog pregnant before (or knew how to assist in delivering puppies) nor have we ever had puppies to take care of. She was there for each and every one of their deliveries and when Saydie was getting exhausted my daughter helped her deliver the puppies, breaking the sacs, etc.
There were several of the baby’s umbilical cords that were severed and bleeding tremendously. She tied them off and put pressure on them to prevent them from bleeding out. She saved Titan’s life; he would have bleed to death if Saydie delivered these pups on her own. My daughter is an amazing dog advocate and helps with networking animals as well. Once she heard that I had Saydie she immediately started to help anyway she could. I love her to death and want to thank her so much for all of her help.
My daughter started Saydies page on Facebook not only to network her and the pups so we can find them wonderful homes, but also to tell her sad story. Unfortunately we have sick people in the world that don’t look at animals as living, beautiful beings. There are so many out there that live horrible lives even worse than Saydies. If we all work together we can put an end to animal abuse, and neglect. Be their voice, because unfortunately they don’t have a voice to tell their stories, we have to do it for them.
Please share Saydies page and her story to bring awareness and also help us find loving forever homes which they all deserve. It’s a true miracle they are all here, including Saydie. I believe God has a plan for Saydie and her pups, there is a reason he placed me there at the pound that day, at that specific time. Whether it is for them just to give a family a loveable companion or for them to be a service dog. I believe there’s a purpose for their existence. If Saydie was dropped off in the desert she would have died along with all of her pups. If she would have been dropped off at the pound they would have either put her down immediately not anyone knowing she was pregnant, even if they did know she was pregnant they would have aborted the babies.
Saydie is now a very healthy and happy 1 ½ year old pup who deserves a pampered life in a loving forever home. Could it be yours? She has only known cruelty, starvations and death. I can’t imagine what she went through seeing her siblings dying in front of her from starvation. Knowing she will soon die too. I’m so grateful the guy had a little bit of a heart to take her to the pound. She is such a beautiful dog inside and out. Thank God for Miracles!
We have had several people ask if they can donate to help us out. If you would like to help we are accepting donations. Saydie and all of the puppies have been spayed and neutered, have all their shots, Vet checked and microchipped. Thank you so much! We are still looking for loving forever homes for Saydie and her pup Toby, if you are interested please contact us.
Thank you DogHeirs for allowing me to share her story.
Kim’s daughter, Kamrie also commented about their rescue efforts. She wrote, “3,000+ likes, 300+ shares and over 200 comments on the Facebook page and an incredible amount of views on this site…. WOW- the dog loving community is truly amazing. There is nothing like animal lovers, and their love brings so many people together. I am so thankful for my mom Kim for doing such an incredible job at raising, nurturing and caring for Saydie and these puppies. It has been a 24/7 job for her. All 13 of them have become our family- and their new families are our families as well. They all hold such a special place in our hearts. I can’t believe how many hearts Saydie’s story has touched. I’m truly amazed. I cannot even put into words the gratitude I have for all of the people who have supported us, not only with donations to help my mom but even in support with open ears and arms. Please keep in mind Saydie and Toby are still looking for forever homes, hopefully all of this attention will bring forward some amazing people that can provide forever homes for them. I can’t say this enough – I am so thankful and my mom and I love this bakers dozen more than words can express. We are so lucky to have new families for these puppies that want to share that love with us.”
Pupdate: Since Kim’s original story was published Saydie, and all of Saydie’s puppies, have found loving forever homes. Kim and her family have kept track of them over the years and they are all healthy and happy and doing wonderfully thanks to her timely intervention in rescuing Saydie.