In many cases where an animal is rescued, we don’t tend to know very much about what their previous owners put them through. Often, that’s because we don’t even know who that person is.
But based on the rough living conditions they’re often found in or the health issues that obviously stemmed from neglect , we can be sure that their situations were painful ones.
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And while we can imagine how many hard days that knowledge leads to when you’re working at an animal shelter, that doesn’t make it any less inspiring when the loving personalities of these animals shines through.
It also makes it all the more rewarding when we see them thrive after escaping peril and one recent story of what volunteers are calling a Christmas miracle illustrates that perfectly.
On December 6, a volunteer at the Ruff Start Rescue in St. Paul, Minnesota happened to come across a pit bull mix named Rosabella shivering in an outdoor cage.
As People reported , this situation wasn’t just sad, but also life-threatening as that happened to be the coldest day of the year when temperatures fell to four degrees Fahrenheit.
As a volunteer named Brianna Jensen said at the time, “If she hadn’t been found that day, she would have died.”
But the danger of freezing to death was far from the only issue Rosabella faced by the time she was rescued.
In a Facebook post , a representative from the rescue explained that the sores on her feet suggested she had spent most of her life in a kennel. More critically, she weighed only 19 pounds when a dog of her breed is supposed to weigh at least 45 pounds.
In Jensen’s words, “She was discarded like garbage. She was surrounded by garbage bags. Obviously, she was emaciated and dehydrated and just on her last leg, honestly.”
Although Ruff Start Rescue asked around for animal lovers who were willing to foster her, this was a labor of love that Jensen would end up undertaking herself.
And after two weeks of being fed a special diet three times a day, Rosabella would end up gaining 10 pounds.
In a follow-up comment from last week, the rescue also shared that she’s spent enough time in a safe, warm foster home to feel well enough to play.
And as of December 20, Ruff Start has determined that the dog Jensen described as “our little Christmas miracle” is healthy enough for a permanent adoption.
And from the sounds of things, a loving home that’s ready for a pet would have a lot of fun with her.
In Jensen’s words, “She’s playful, and she’s fun. She likes to run around the yard. She’s getting along really well with our other dogs. She is just the sweetest little girl in the whole world.”
h/t: People
