- Nova, a Great Pyrenees, was the accepting adoptive mother of the litter of six
- The Labrador crosses, found in Texas, had to be fed immediately by the strays
- The puppies are now being weaned by Nova in a foster home before being adopted
A stray mother dog found without her litter has melted hearts around the world after stepping in as a surrogate for a new litter of abandoned puppies.
Texas-based shelter Fort Bend County Animal Services put out a call for help with a litter of six puppies, and remarkably, Nova, a Great Pyrenees dog “full of milk” for her lost babies, was brought in to provide breadwinner for the starving to care for puppies. .
Thanks to the accepting mother, the litter is doing even better than expected after Nova was able to take them from ‘bottle babies’ to the natural diet of an adult dog.
The shelter posted on X on October 26: ‘Everyone, meet Nova! The heroic mama dog who swoops in to save the day and care for these babies!
“Our D-litter bottle baby puppies are no longer bottle babies!”
Nova, a Great Pyrenees stray mother found without her litter, was able to swoop in and save a pack of six puppies in desperate need of feeding
The Labrador crosses were found without their birth mother on Oct. 24, when Fort Bend County Animal Services put out a plea for someone to bottle-feed the litter.
The puppies are now growing like crazy in a foster home with Nova, where they will stay until they can be adopted individually
Nova and her six new puppies, Labrador crossbreeds, have now been moved to a foster home that plans to adopt Nova after the little ones are weaned – which will take about another month.
At that time, the puppies, after being neutered, are also offered for adoption.
The hero of the story was found all alone, but was clearly missing a litter of her own which unfortunately could not be found nearby, before the quick-thinking public saw it as a solution to FBCAS’s outrage and took her to the shelter.
Likewise, the puppies were found healthy, but without their mother in sight, when they were picked up and taken to the shelter.
Rene Vasquez, director of FBCAS, said PEOPLE: ‘They were small and needed immediate bottle feeding and care, they were about a week to ten days old.’
But Vasquez added that thanks to Nova, they are now “growing like weeds.”
And the adoptive mother seemed more than happy with the arrangement, too.
“Nova was so happy to see the puppies!” Vasquez added.
‘She liked them straight away, and they were very happy to have a mother and food!’
However, the shelter director said not all cases she encounters have such a happy ending.
She said the industry is facing a “crisis” as the number of animals abandoned increases to a point that shelters and sanctuaries cannot cope.