UPDATE: Senior Golden retriever abandoned while in labor tried to nurse her stuffies beginning to heal

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It had been an emergency situation last weekend for Georgia based rescue group Hounds In Pounds who didn’t waste a moment helping an eight-year-old Golden Retriever in active labor and about to deliver a litter of puppies.

The non profit organization received the 911 plea from a friend begging for help. The dog named Butternut had been in labor, and her “owner” stated she could not afford to pay for a C-section the dog would need to deliver the pups. According to one of the contacted individuals, Butternut had already delivered four litters in the past. She had been a breeder’s commodity where her only value had been measured by the puppies she produced to be later sold for profit.

The owner tried to surrender Butternut to a local Georgia animal shelter, but the shelter refused, and instead of taking the responsibility for her dog, she planned to abandon her in the parking lot. It was a Good Samaritan who had witnessed the heartbreaking exchange and offered to take Butternut and get her the help she so desperately needed.

One of our Georgia whelping fosters dropped everything—left work, left life—to pick up Butternut and get her to safety. She’s now in a quiet home, being monitored with care and compassion. For the first time in her life, someone is watching her with love.

Sadly, Butternut’s puppies did not survive, and when she was brought back to her foster home, she tried to nurse her stuffies. After all, delivering puppies and caring for them had been her life. To Butternut, that was life as usual.

What had hoped to be her gradual recovery turned into an emergency just two days later. Butternut was rushed into emergency surgery with Pyometra – a severe and often fatal uterine infection caused by years of overbreeding and insufficient veterinarian care.

Had surgery not been performed, Butternut would have died.

Butternut is alive today because someone cared. Because our team refused to let her die in silence. She’s resting now, heading back to her foster home tonight with pain meds, antibiotics—and a whole lot of love

Since then, Butternut has turned the corner and is eating and soaking up the love she’s been starved for her entire life. She is comfortably settling into her new orthopedic bed with a donut pillow and is finally comfortable. She remains on pain medication and intravenous antibiotics twice a day.

Her entire life has changed. She’s no longer a vessel for puppies or a number in someone’s breeding ledger. She’s Butternut. A dog. A soul. A survivor. And she’s finally allowed to live. We are endlessly grateful to her Georgia foster family for loving her like their own, for holding her through the worst, and for showing her what care looks like.

At this time Butternut is no available for adoption. For more updates, please follow the organization’s Facebook page.

Check out Butternut’s latest video: