Hi!! My name is Snowball because I love to play in the snow!! I am about 3-4 years old and I have been living with my foster family for over 1 and ½ years. Why so long you ask? Well, let me tell you that I decided to wander off from my original family and I got hit by a car. My family could not afford to take me to a vet, so they surrendered me to a high kill shelter where I laid in pain for 5 days until Small Paws Rescue heard about me and saved my life!! They rescued me and a wonderful surgeon put me back together. I had sustained massive injuries to my pelvis, legs and bladder. My prognosis was not good, and the specialist said I would never walk again and my bowels and bladder probably would never work again. I stayed in the intensive care for several weeks and was almost totally paralyzed from the waist down. Once I was well enough to go to my foster family, I had to have intensive and painful physical therapy three times a week for a whole summer, and although I was making good progress, my foster mom and my physical therapist felt I needed a doggie wheelchair so I could play and keep up with my other foster brothers and sisters.
Thanks to the generosity of Small Paws Rescue, I was fitted for a wheelchair and was anxiously awaiting its arrival. But, I sure fooled everyone and on the day my wheelchair arrived, I shocked my foster family and actually got up and walked on my own for the first time!!! And, once I learned how to walk, I learned how to run. And, once I learned how to run, I learned how to climb stairs. And, as I made more progress, my bladder and bowels learned how to work again. Who said Snowball needed a wheelchair???? I was a miracle dog!!! My foster mom never even opened the box which held my wheelchair. In fact, she and I took a drive to the post office and sent that wheelchair back!! I practiced walking that whole autumn and when winter came, I could run outside and play in the snow. Lying on my back to make “Snowball” angels was so much fun!
When spring came, my foster mom said I wasn’t as perky as I had been, so my doctor did some blood tests on me. I was diagnosed with a congenital liver shunt. My foster mom cried that day but I told her it would be OK. She told me a liver shunt was what was keeping me from feeling good. Really? The way she told me about it is that my liver is important because one of the functions of my liver is to get rid of bad things (toxins) that can build up in my body. A silly blood vessel that is supposed to go to my liver didn’t so those toxic things make me sick—no wonder I didn’t feel so good! I have to get it fixed. My foster mom said I would need surgery. Yes, back I went to my favorite surgeon and he, for the 2nd time in my life, had to operate on me, to repair this liver shunt. He told me dogs can have 2 different kinds of liver shunts and I had both kinds. Of course, nothing simple for me, Snowball!! But, that didn’t bother me. So, one liver shunt was fixed with surgery and the other one is managed with 2 different kinds of medicine which I take twice a day, when I eat. My foster mom said my medicine is not expensive, so that made me happy. Since my surgery and the daily medicines, I am back to my ole’ happy self! By now you are probably thinking that I am a dog who has bad luck, but nope, I don’t think that way at all! Over the past year and a half, I have met the most wonderful humans who never gave up on me and they always told me “Snowball, you can do it—you can beat the odds!” Well, I sure have!! Now, it is time for me to find my forever home. I love my foster family so much and my foster mom said finding me a home is going to break her heart. The two of us have been through so much together and she just loves my big brown eyes and how I like to give her nose kisses. You see, my foster mom doesn’t care that my two back legs don’t work perfectly so I run funny due to my past injury, and she doesn’t care than I also need to wear a belly band as my bladder isn’t 100% perfect either. She just loves me for who I am—one happy go-lucky guy who came into her life as a broken and critical fluff and who taught her that miracles do happen. In her eyes, I am “perfect.” And, my foster mom told me she will keep me until she finds me the “perfect” forever family. I am such a lucky boy!!
Snowball needs another dog in the home. Children in the home need to be at least 10 years old. He’s being fostered in IL
Donations are greatly appreciated for his care. If you would like to donate, please click here
Small Paws Rescue - Donation.
If you are interested in adopting this dog, please fill out the Small Paws Rescue Preadoption Application.
