Help Bring Puma Home!!

As some of you know - in mid August, Gabe and I went traveling through Georgia (the country bordered by Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.) 

We were driving from Ushguli to Sighnaghi when the cars ahead of us started swerving around something. We looked out and realized they were all trying not to hit a small terrified puppy, so I jumped out and chased him off the road. 


We were in a location where there was a cliff on one side of the road, and a steep mountain on the other. Since there was no where for the puppy to run, I was able to pin him down with my hand for a few minutes until he stopped panicking and eventually he let me pick him up. 

We couldn't leave him on the side of the road, so we took him to a vet in Tbilisi and asked if they could help us. There is a big stray dog population in Georgia, so it was unlikely that we would be able to find an adopter. He was also only 2 months old, 8 months too young to take into their city program. 

Gabe and I spent the next few days driving around Georgia with our pup, sneaking him into hotels and picking at least 100 ticks from his tiny body. 

He spent the first night hiding in the corner of our room, shaking from fear. He slowly began to warm up and trust us, crying when he would wake up alone and couldn't see us. Eventually he would just cry until we pulled him onto our laps, where he would sleep for hours and hours. 

We got to watch his little personality come out. He's playful, curious, and brave. We fell in love immediately and named him Puma (when he yawns he sounds like a tiny puma.) We were desperately trying to to find a foster in Georgia to take him for 4-8 weeks, until he was healthy enough for his vaccines + waited the full 30 day incubation period after his rabies vaccine. 


We finally found our savior, a vet named Ana in Tbilisi who works with Mayhew, a non profit that helps with rescuing and rehoming dogs. She was able to put us in contact with someone who runs a dog hotel in Tbilisi that was willing to take in Puma and take care of him until he was ready to come travel to the US. 


We are still sorting out the logistics and won't know the exact price of how much this will all cost - but we'd appreciate all the help we can get. We need to cover the cost of his boarding of 6-8 weeks in Tbilisi, vaccines, documents, and transport over. 

We've been trying to find someone from Georgia who could come travel with Puma (it's safer and cheaper) but we'll most likely have to send him via cargo company. 

We also don't have a family for him yet - so please reach out if you know anyone that would be interested in adopting this pup. Unfortunately we can't keep him since we already have a rescue from last year (Florence) and we're not completely sure how she'll react to a puppy in the house. 

Any donation would be so much appreciated - we're so excited to bring this beautiful puppy home and give him a second chance at life with a warm bed and plenty of love.

- Dre and Gabe