Save Maya: A Journey from Neglect to Hope

2/28/25 update at the bottom

PLEASE HELP MAYA AND HER PAWRENTS FINANCIALLY AS THEY ENDURE THIS ONGOING BATTLE FOR MAYA DUE TO THE NEGLECT SHE EXPERIENCED BEFORE LOVE. MAYA IS ACTIVELY IN KIDNEY FAILURE AT THE ANNAPOLIS EMERGENCY VET.

Where does one even begin when it comes to the love of dogs?

This journey—this heartbreak—began in the summer of 2024. A desperate call came to Anne Arundel County Animal Care & Control. A relative of the dogs' owner pleaded for help, asking the shelter to take in ten Labrador retriever puppies and their young parents, who had been trapped in a basement, unseen and forgotten. But the shelter was already bursting at the seams. So they contacted Kathy Hunter at Chesapeake Cats and Dogs, an Eastern Shore rescue, to see if they could take the dogs directly.

I (Meredith) went to that house. And what I saw… I still struggle to put into words.

The puppies—innocent, trusting, undeserving of such cruelty—were crammed together in rusting wire crates, their tiny paws slipping in the filth of their own waste. Their eyes held nothing but confusion, pain, and a silent plea for help. The parents, still unfixed, were isolated in separate cages, their spirits just as broken. The puppies skin was burnt from the acids in the urine, thus also causing ongoing medical issues that are now getting worse and worse.

We called them the "DIRTY DOZEN," but they were so much more than that. They were survivors. And against all odds, they found homes—real homes—with families who cherished them. We kept in touch, watching them bloom with love and care. But love isn’t always enough to undo the damage of the past.

One of the puppies—one sweet soul who finally got a taste of the good life—was stolen from us too soon. His little body, too ravaged by neglect in those early months, couldn't hold on, no matter how much love surrounded him in the end. His adopted family recently lost him.

And now, Maya. Beautiful, strong, resilient Maya. She should have had a lifetime ahead of her. Instead, she’s fighting for her life. Just after celebrating her first birthday—she's in active kidney failure. Days spent in an emergency vet, her devoted family doing everything they can to save her. Sean and his fiance fostered then adopted and fully accepted Maya, knowing she had likely incontinence issues that would/could last forever, and they accepted every bit of that because of their love for Maya, no matter what.

And all of this, every tear shed, every heart broken, comes back to the suffering they endured before they were ever given a chance.

This is the cost of neglect. This is the cruelty that steals futures before they begin. And this is why we fight—for Maya, for the ones we lost, and for the ones still waiting in the shadows, hoping someone will come for them.

UPDATE 2/28/2025- Sadly, Maya crossed the rainbow bridge this evening and joined her brother Bean, who had passed recently from renal failure.

The Vet bills over the past week, trying to save her are over $6k not including seeing the specialists over her short life. Please donate and share if you can.

Please read their story

https://gofund.me/c3c18335