Save Sydney's Puppies

Sydney's remaining 3 puppies are fighting for their lives, and we need your help. Diagnosed with canine herpes, mycoplasma, and finally bronchopneumonia, 5-week-old puppies Nash, Phoenix, and Paris are defying all odds and fighting to survive.

I humbly ask you to give whatever you can, however you can. It will make a difference. I see it make a difference every single day. I see dogs rehabilitate and survive and grow and become irreplaceable members of loving families. 

Whatever you can give, it matters.  The lives you save matter.

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Full story below:

Sydney was impounded as a very pregnant stray to the Downey shelter in Los Angeles early December. Two days later, she gave birth to a litter of 5 puppies. For unknown reasons, they were kept in the regular dog run, in the cold, and remained there for 9 days before we were contacted. 9 days outdoors with the loud, incessant barking, the sicknesses, surrounded by dogs and strangers—cold and afraid.


We came as soon as we were called. Sydney was understandably afraid and guarding her puppies, which caused animal control officers to label her as aggressive and probably prevented her getting care. But we were able to handle her, and saw that, when separated from her pups, she was gentle and sweet and so badly neglected. Covered in dirt and birthing fluids even after all that time, she needed a safe place to nurse and care for her puppies in peace.

In the safety of her foster home, Sydney nursed and cared for her puppies like an excellent mother. Cleaning up after them, rousing them to eat, nursing them at all hours, and guarding them fiercely. In a short time, she began to trust me, her foster, allowing her to walk her safely, and even cuddling with me on the floor near the puppies. I've never seen such depth in a foster's eyes, in all the dogs I've loved and fostered and had to part with.


At a routine 3 week visit for dewormer, in which Sydney had to be separated from her pups for an agonizing 2 hours, we got unexpected news—one of the pups, Paris, had hours to live. She was cold and dehydrated. Suddenly declining, out of nowhere. My heart broke.



We feared Parvo. We began tests. We waited.

Just hours later, we lost Verona. The biggest, healthiest pup. Unexpectedly. Sydney was beside herself. The next morning we lost London. Sydney laid on my lap and panted heavily, not knowing what to do. For the first time, she let me handle the pups in front of her. She went into shock. The pups sat on a heating pad on my lap.

I put everyone in the car, the mom and her remaining 3 babies, and we headed an hour north to the vet in LA. In silence. Missing the other 2.

The vet team suited up and gathered around the puppies. Sydney bared her teeth at them, still protecting her babies, but melted into me for protection, finally recognizing me as her person and knowing I was safe. I felt everything she's been through. The fear and panic of trying to protect her babies—imagine, for a moment, what that must be like—from the shelter to a strange home to this cold, sterile place. I walked her around the block while they ran tests. We feared distemper. Prepared for the worst.  Again, they said Paris wouldn't survive the day.  None of them would survive the weekend.

It was decided we had to separate Sydney from her puppies to increase their chance of survival. She was in extreme distress, they were not nursing, and I needed unguarded access to them every 2 hours to give them fluids and nutrients. It was more than I could safely manage alone. She went with the rescue, and I knew she was in the best hands.

We stopped off on the way home in traffic to pick up puppy formula and syringes and feed them in the car. They would depend on us for everything now. 



After waiting for 4 long days, we got the distemper results—negative. Finally. But, some bad news. They tested positive for canine herpes and mycoplasma, and were at risk for secondary infections. They were out of the window of sudden death, being older than 3 weeks, but their prognoses were still guarded. They required syringe formula feeding every 2 hours, 24 hours a day, antibiotics, saline nasal wash, and pedialyte. They needed their temperatures and weights taken daily and recorded. Being a surrogate wolf mother is a very serious job.


Paris, told twice she was going to die, doubled her weight in a week. She opened her eyes. She started to walk. 

Phoenix and Nash continued to eat, began to play. I remember the first time I saw them playfully paw at each other and wrestle. My heart skipped a beat.



In a routine 5 week check up for dewormer, history repeated itself and we got bad news. The puppies had developed bronchopneumonia, common in dogs with canine herpes. Phoenix had the worst of it, his left side almost totally affected. We doubled their meds, revised our plan for care, and the vet bills began to pile.

Days later, their appetites began to decline. Syringe feeding became force feeding, for Phoenix especially. It's hard to tell if this is a side effect of the new dose of antibiotics, the dewormer, or a sign of decline. They appeared to have difficulty breathing, exerting a lot of abdominal effort.



Rescue is about committing to save a dog's life, picking up the tab of other humans and their abuse and neglect, often not knowing what's in store when the dog is pulled. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's known complications like a fractured leg. Sometimes it's unknown costs, when puppies get sick or dogs take a turn. 

So when the puppies got sick, Hollywood Huskies made the commitment to their care and hospitalized them. While hospitalized, they were able to receive 60% oxygen in a special oxygen chamber (a normal room is 20% oxygen), IV antibiotics and fluids, and a feeding tube for Phoenix. The cost was $2,100. Per puppy. Per night. On the low end. 



We took the chance, because they weren't suffering, and the deserved a chance. They didn't deserve to die because one irresponsible human didn't spay or vaccinate their pet, dumped her pregnant in the streets. Or because the shelter didn't isolate them from other dogs after they were born. Or call us for days. 



Paris and Nash are home from the hospital now, while Phoenix is there another day, fighting. The total for their care alone will be almost $10,000. And they're not the only medical dogs we have right now. We have two dogs with fractured legs, another hospitalized dog, and more.



I always say, rescue isn't a place, it's people. We simply cannot take dogs from shelters without foster homes secured for them. We cannot take dogs from shelters if we cannot pay their medical bills, already in so much debt. The adoption fee doesn't begin to cover the cost of pulling a dog. We cannot continue to operate without your support. 

I humbly ask you to give whatever you can, however you can. It will make a difference. I see it make a difference every single day. I see dogs rehabilitate and survive and grow and become irreplaceable parts of loving families. 

Whatever you can give, it matters.  The lives you save matter.