Help me help puppies!

Out where I live I help take care of all kindsa strays... Skittish strays, friendly strays, strays that decide to have puppies and bring them underneath my deck. Turns out one of the strays is all three kinds!

Martha, one of the stray dogs I put food and water out for, had a litter of beautiful adolescent puppies that were on the property when I moved in. I started to love these puppies and was beginning to get them to trust coming around people just in time to watch them all tragically not make it.

A little over a month ago Martha had 7 or 8 noisy pups and decided my deck was the best place for them. After a few days of no sleep due to the constant sound of whining I looked at all of these newborns and promised them I would see them through to a happy and healthy life. By the time Martha had started weening them, the weather started getting hot & stormy, and the pups started to get strong enough to crawl out of their dog house, we were down to 5. Whether a fool's errand or not, I decided to bring the puppies in and be their full-time caretaker right around week four. A few days after grabbing the pups we managed to get Martha spayed and vaccinated with Emancipet.

I had no idea how expensive this would be.

I have contributed countless hours to cleaning up poop, mixing the perfect amount of formula at just the right temperature, bathing and weighing each pup daily. I'll do anything that is in my capabilities to do to make sure these puppies stay together until they're 8 weeks old and ready to be good boys and girls. Unfortunately the money aspect is now the biggest hurdle standing in my way. I've contributed all of my free spending and am now on a ramen diet for the sake of these little pups. Last week I had to take the smallest pup of the litter, Vaquero, to the vet because of an infection in her tail and noticing she didn't have quite the same glow in her eyes I saw in the others. It turns out poor little Vaquero will be entirely blind in her right eye and in her left eye the best she can hope for is to be able to see light and blurs of figures. I've already gotten her into the vet twice with another follow-up appointment this week that is entirely beyond my financial means.

Next week the entire litter needs to go in for their litter examination and first round of vaccines. I've reached out to every local organization I have been able to find for help with this but without putting the puppies into the foster/rescue/shelter system I'm not being offered much help. The Fur Baby Food Pantry in Georgetown has contributed a great amount of bedding, puppy pads, food, etc. but unfortunately they aim to serve as much of the community as possible and aren't entirely able to keep up with the needs of these fast growing puppies (who now mostly weigh-in over 5 lbs). I've had several others helping along the way but now I'm recognizing a significant need right on the horizon.

I've put this cost estimate together based off of what I think it will cost to get all of these puppies in for their first rounds of medical treatment as well as pads, food, weening supplies. I compiled information from local low-cost pop-up clinics as well as guidance from the AKC.

If there's any part of you that is willing to help me out making sure all five of these puppies find happiness, healthiness, and a life long companion, please consider donating to my GoFundMe. Any money raised through here will directly benefit the puppies and I'm happy to put an email updater together to show you all how they're growing!

If you are at all interested in fostering, or even adopting, these babies past the 8 week mark please let me know. Right now two of them have found their forever home and a third has a foster available in my house with the one I'm adopting. I am doing my best to make sure that Vaquero, the blind puppy, is fostered or adopted as a bonded pair with one of her littermates. They already play with her differently and treat her differently so I think they would be good for her to learn how to dog.

Thank you for reading this much of my story and please consider helping in any way you can! Any extra funds leftover after vaccines, supplies, vet visits, and spay/neutering will be used for the continuing care of the pup Quixote, who stole my heart and I am adopting.