I’m pretty new to this three legged life, but I’m a young, strong girl and not letting a missing leg slow me down one bit! How I got this way is really anyone’s guess, as I was brought to a Central Florida rescue as a stray with a broken leg, and it was originally thought that I had been hit by a car.
The rescue couldn’t afford to fix my leg, as their veterinarian said I would require an amputation, so they brought me to the local animal control facility to be euthanized. While there, a wonderful young lady who worked the kennels named Erica decided I was too cute to not take a chance on me, so she pulled me into her rescue, Dolly’s Foundation.
I was taken to another veterinarian, and the second opinion confirmed the first, I needed to have my leg amputated. It was a pretty bad break on the the growth plate of my left front leg, and with me being only about 5 months old, there was no way to fix it. So, a chip-in was started, and I had my surgery in late February, about 12 weeks ago.
After my surgery, I went into rehab/foster care with Ms. Erica as the newest member of Dolly’s Foundation. While I was healing, people all over Central Florida were falling in love with the youngest member of Dolly’s pack, via photos on their FB page and the adoption events I attended.
In April, I needed to be fostered out so that Ms. Erica could care for another very sick young girl. My temporary foster mom was a good friend of Ms. Erica, and agreed to take me on short notice for what was supposed to be a week long foster before I moved to my full time foster in another city.
During the first week with her, I frolicked and played with my new foster sister, Molly, who was a little younger but a little bigger than myself. We played all day and slept separately at night. We became thick as thieves, like peanut butter and jelly.
It was decided that I wouldn’t be going to Jacksonville after all, I would be living with Molly and my new foster moms until I was adopted. I went to an adoption event that Saturday, and Molly looked for me all day. She went to my crate, and mom’s room, and the back yard and back again. She missed me terribly. When we got home from the event, Molly’s mom told my mom about how much she missed me.
On the 8th day in their home, an email was sent and a phone call made… my fosters had failed, they were keeping me forever! The following Friday, Ms. Erica came over with the contract for my new mom to sign, and it was done! I was known as Shelby while I was part of Dolly’s pack, but since there already was a Shelby in my new extended family, my name was changed to Shila.
On April 22, a mere 8 weeks after losing my leg, I was in a new home with a new family, a new name…and a new life!
