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Hello friends! Welcome to Ruff Life! It is finally the day we have all been waiting for,

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transport day. We've got lots of critters on this load today so I'm just going to jump right into

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their stories. First up we have Murph. He is a five-year-old scruffy little thing. His owner

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was an elderly lady who couldn't take care of him anymore so some of her relatives took him in.

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He ended up being too hyper for their liking though so they surrendered him to one of our fosters.

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His hair was so matted and nasty when we got him that he had to be taken to the groomers

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immediately. The hair around his eyes was matted to the point it almost blocked his vision completely.

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But luckily Murph is looking and feeling so much better now. The B litter of two three-month-old

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lab mixes were dumped behind a restaurant in a nearby town. One of our rescue partners in that

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area took them home and she fostered them over the five-week break for us. The P litter of two

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beagle mixes were dumped in front of our veterinarian's home. I'm telling y'all if people know you're

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involved with animals in any capacity your road immediately becomes a dumping ground. Unfortunately

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for the vet's neighbors the animals often wander up to his home as well so he's taken in several

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of them himself and he's found homes for several others. When these two puppies were dumped he

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asked the vet if he knew anyone that would take them and our vet recommended our rescue.

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They were actually dumped with an adult who we originally thought might have been their mom.

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We don't think that's the case however but she was pregnant at the time and she just had seven

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puppies a few days ago so he's going to keep them until the June transport when they're old enough

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to go but he does want to keep the mom because he already loves her so much. This is actually the

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first time he's ever sent animals on a transport before and he was so heartbroken about it but

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when I explained you know all the insanely amazing lives these animals get I could tell that made

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him feel better. We're so thankful that he kept them these last few weeks for us and he's even

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offered to foster for us in the future so we love a win-win. The A litter of two was dumped at the

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kill shelter. They were actually found running around and playing at the water treatment plant

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that's right behind the shelter so someone definitely just dropped them off in the shelter

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parking lot and just hoped the best for them. Luckily they didn't wander out into the busy

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road and get run over. The C litter of four husky mixes were picked up by the shelter because they

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were sitting at the street department. Jessica and I actually don't even know where the street

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department is and I had never even heard of it and so they sent us that text. It was actually just

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a day or two after our last transport in March. We had agreed not to pull anything for the first

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few weeks of the break so we wouldn't have to foster them for so long and well you can see how

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long that lasted. The animal control officer asked us to take the four puppies. He sent us pictures

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of six puppies and gave us five genders so we had no idea what we were really going to end up with

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when we got them. They had some pretty rough mange when we picked them up but we got them started

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on treatment right away and they look so much better now. The W litter of three were found

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curled up on a headstone at a cemetery. The headstone was Mary and Jay Prather so I think that

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would be really great names for these puppies. They were picked up by whoever found them and they

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were taken to one of our rescue partners who got them settled in a foster home until transport.

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The T litter of seven were found in a box at City Hall a few towns over. A police officer picked

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them up and got them to one of our rescue partners. He actually kept one of the puppies and then

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contacted the rescue a few weeks later and asked if it was too late to give them this puppy too.

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Okay Dolly and her nine Labradoodle puppies. This girl will always hold such a special place

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in my heart. She is definitely a hard one to let go of. She is actually part of the oodles of doodles

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bunch that we pulled last year. So last year I got tagged in a post on Facebook that someone

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had made about doodles that needed help because she was from out of state. Her post didn't get

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much attraction so no rescue stepped up. I messaged her to get more information and she said a friend

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of hers had gone to the breeder to buy one of the dogs and when she got there she was just

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horrified at the conditions they were living in. She took a few pictures and that's what was posted

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on Facebook. So I got in touch with the breeder and he surrendered eight Labradoodles to us that he

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was no longer able to take care of. Flash forward a few weeks and the lady who went there to buy a

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dog and took pictures and got the whole ball rolling reached out to me herself. She said she

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no longer wanted the dog that she bought and she asked if I would buy her back from her. I told her, um,

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no, but that I would be more than happy to come get her if she needed me to for free.

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A few days later she wrote me back and she told me I could come get her. I was just about to leave

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when she texted me that she changed her mind and just couldn't give her up. So two weeks later I'm

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on vacation in Gatlinburg and she messaged me that she needed the dog gone by the end of the day.

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I wish y'all could hear my eyes rolling right now. I was so annoyed. So I sent a mass text message

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out to all of our people to see if anyone could just stop what they were doing and go get her right

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then. Thankfully one of our rescue partners was able to go get her and take her to one of their

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fosters. Their foster kept her until I got home and then she came to stay with me. We were closed

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for Christmas and New Year at the time and by the time transports resumed we had a hunch Dolly was

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pregnant. A few weeks later it was confirmed. Dolly stayed with me while she delivered puppies

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and I gotta tell y'all I have seen a lot of mamas. Hands down, hands down, mama dogs are some of the

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best mamas in the world. But Dolly girl, she definitely wins the award for the worst mom in

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the world. The moment those puppies came out of her she wanted nothing to do with them. The look

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on her face when the first puppy plopped out was absolute disgust. I would try to put it on her and

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she would look at me like do not touch me with that thing. Actually one of my funniest memories

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of this litter, well it's funny now but it was traumatizing when it happened, was the day after

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their birth. It was my mom's 60th birthday and I had this whole day planned for us at the spa.

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My dog, Ollie, begged to come with me when I was going to Mississippi to pick my mom up that morning.

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So I just let him ride with us since we would be going right past our house on the way back

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when we were on the way to the spa anyways. And thank goodness I did because when I stopped at

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home to put him back in the house I opened the door and it was utter chaos. At the time I had Dolly,

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peanut butter, who was still completely feral and big boy. So I walk in the door and I hear puppies

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screaming in every room of the house. Dolly is sprawled out on the couch, sound asleep.

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Big boy is running laps around our dining room kitchen living room and he's panting like he has

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run a full marathon. And poor peanut, who was only a few weeks postpartum herself at the time,

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was picking puppies up and putting them in her dog bed trying to make them stop crying.

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It was it was like the whole house was on fire. I have no idea what happened while I was gone. My

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best guess is either Dolly would lay down with them and then when she got up some would still be

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hanging on to her and they would just fall off all over the house or and this is this is probably

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more likely what it was. She didn't like to be alone with her puppies so I wonder if big boy and

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peanut were in the other rooms and she attempted to carry her puppies in there with them to nurse.

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I honestly don't know. I got everyone gathered back up though and set up a nanny camera appointed

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directly at them so I could stare at them the whole time I was at the spa which was so relaxing.

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And then Justin was getting home from work just a couple hours later so

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Dolly just hated being a mom. She just wanted to play with her friends and cuddle on the couch.

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I will say though despite all of that and all the mean things that I just said about her

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all 11 of her babies were born alive and she kept all 11 of these babies alive this whole time.

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She may not have wanted to but she did. So you might be thinking 11 I thought you said nine.

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Well only nine are on this transport because we are holding two of them back. My little charcoal

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girl and my little runt man got sick out of nowhere last week. It hit them hard and we have

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absolutely no idea what it is. Four different vets here have weighed in and we've done multiple

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tests and everything is coming back negative. They're just refusing to eat or drink. I honestly

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don't even know how they're still alive. They're only surviving by the fluids that I'm putting in

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them. I go in every hour and I poke food, nutricle, formula or medicine in their mouths.

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We're trying everything but it's been a week now and they have not made much progress at all.

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Thankfully the other nine are completely fine and totally healthy. We're just going to hold these

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two back until they're strong enough to make the trip. Hopefully that'll be the next transport but

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if they have to stay here a little longer that's fine. This litter was born in my living room,

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raised in my dining room and just completely stole mine and my husband's hearts. Their sweet mama is

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as good as gold and I'm so thankful for her that this was her first and last litter. She has been

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through so much in her two short years. She deserves the absolute best home where she can be the care

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free dog that she wants to be and I can't wait to see the wonderful homes all of them get.

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It's a good thing that I still have two of them here with me right now or I'd be saying all of

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that through tears. Okay moving on. The tea litter of nine is another crazy story. Their mom is not

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on this transport but her name is Mary D. We first found out about Mary D last year. She wandered up

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to someone's home and they thought she looked pregnant and asked us to take her. We got her

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scheduled for transport, had someone ready to take her so she could deliver her puppies in a

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foster home in Virginia but the hussy went and delivered the puppies before transport. She had

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them deep in the woods and the owner couldn't find them. A few days later Mary D brought a couple of

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the puppies back to the house and the weather was so cold that night that they froze to death.

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We were gutted. Absolutely devastated. We were still going to send Mary D on transport that next

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week but the owner decided she wanted to keep her. We gave her a spay voucher but she thought she had

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more time than she did to get it done because she contacted us in February saying Mary D was

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pregnant again. We were determined to get her in a foster home down here before she delivered

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but she had her puppies two days before our transport left and all of our foster homes opened up.

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Thankfully she had them under the lady's porch this time so as soon as transport left

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Mary D and her nine two-day old puppies moved into the doghouse. She is the absolute best mama dog

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I have ever seen. She is the complete opposite of Dolly and I was just going to end her story here

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but it's so crazy. I'm going to just tell y'all now. Mary D isn't on transport with her puppies

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today because she's staying here to nurse puppies. About 10 days ago we got a call from Animal

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Control that a police officer shot and killed a mama dog in town. She had six puppies that were

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barely a few hours old. She was so close to her puppies when she was shot that her puppies were

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covered in her blood splatter when they were brought to us. They would have absolutely died at the

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shelter because there's no one there to bottle feed them or even just to keep them warm but we

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had no bottle feeders either or formula or anything. Luckily we did have Mary D. Her puppies were

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already starting to eat puppy food and beginning to wean so we went ahead and just put them at

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my house with Dolly and her puppies and gave the six newborns to Mary D. It was a gamble whether or

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not she would take them in and feed them. She could have very easily said not my puppies not my

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problem but she saw those six little bitty babies cold, bloody, and hungry and she laid right down

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with them. She cleaned them and fed them all night. She is still the best little mama to them. She

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hardly ever leaves their side. Unfortunately Mary D's owner is not sure yet if she wants her back

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or not when she's done feeding this litter so I don't know if she will ever make a Virginia

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debut in a few weeks but I do know we will never be able to repay her for everything she has done

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for these puppies. She absolutely saved their lives and we are going to make sure she has the

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happiest life ahead of her whether it's in Mississippi or Virginia. We actually let her have

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a little family reunion today with her original babies before we loaded them on the van and

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let's just say out of sight out of mind for Mary D she did not care a flip about seeing those babies.

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She was just concerned with getting all the petting by us. Maybe she thought we were going to make

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her take them back too and she was going to have to feed everybody. Who knows but she wanted

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nothing to do with them babies. As for the cats we were originally just sending the J litter of

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three kittens. Actually they're not even technically a litter of three. Two are from a rescue partner

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who had a feral cat gift birth. We spayed the mom and she's a barn cat for them now somewhere

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and the gray kitten was abandoned as a baby and has been being bottle fed for the last month by one

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of our fosters but they were all the same age and they all needed a place to go at the same time

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so we've only had one foster that was able to take them so they've been staying together the last two

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weeks. But then yesterday the day before transport Dr. Burton reached out to me and told me that the

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cat condo at PetSmart contacted them and told them if they didn't get some more cats in there soon

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they were going to have to partner with another rescue and y'all already know we were not going

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to let that happen so I got to do one of my all-time favorite things in the world. Go shopping.

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Not for clothes or shoes or anything like that. For critters. Any animal we save is rewarding for

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sure but there's just something different about going to shelters and walking through picking

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who you're going to take home with you. It's like when you go on a road trip as a kid and your

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parents let you pick whatever snacks and candy you want from the gas station. No it's even better

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than that because this was unexpected. It's like your parents pick you up from school and tell you

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you can get whatever candy and snacks you want. I am definitely like a kid in a candy shop when I

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get to do this. It's rare that I do. Usually my transports are filled weeks if not months in advance

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but when openings come up like this at the last minute and I get to just bust some extra animals

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out of a shelter it's amazing. All that to say. Nine to five and the seven S litter kittens were

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part of my shopping spree pull. They actually came from the shelter that I talked about in one of my

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introductory episodes when I first got started so it was super nice to be able to help them out and

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save these babies. Nine to five was actually born at the shelter last year. Her mom and all of her

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litter mates were adopted but she never was. She's a year old and she's been there her entire life

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but because there are no kill shelters she would just stay there forever until someone eventually

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came and adopted her which is great for her but that means that's one less cat that they can take

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for as long as she's there. So we're really glad we were able to take her for them. The kittens

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were brought to the shelter as owner-surrenders. They were brought to them in a big Tupperware

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container which is terrible but it was a super cute picture. Run Rose Run was part of a Littera

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five kittens that were found by someone visiting Mississippi from out of state. They were found

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abandoned behind a convenience store and were just a few days old. The family looked at the closest

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vet to them and that vet gave them our rescue partner's information. Two kittens died immediately

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but the other three kittens were bottle fed for weeks by the by the rescue's owner. The other

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two kittens went on transport somewhere else but when it was time for Rose to go on transport it

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got canceled at the last minute. By the time the next transport came around they told her the kitten

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was too old to go and they would no longer be taking her which is ridiculous. We're so glad we

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got to add her on last minute because she is absolutely beautiful. Good golly Miss Dolly is

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actually from my former boss the elementary school principal. She's in the process of moving to a

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new house and she's renting a home since hers just sold but she's not able to keep her cat with her

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at the rent house. I also kind of got the impression that this was just a stray cat that wandered up

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to their old house and they took care of her just because she was there but they didn't want to leave

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her behind for the new owners. They've taken great care of her and she's a super sweet cat but I think

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this was more of a she just moved in with us kind of situation. But that covers all of our stories

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for all 53 animals on today's transport. Next transport is on Friday so our episode won't drop

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until then. Make sure you hit that subscribe button to get notified when it goes live next week

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and follow us on our Instagram page to see all the backstory photos. Next week's episode is going

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to have some wild stories and some crazy before and after photos. It's a rough life but someone's

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going to do it.