12 Days of Happy Tails: Meet Sophia!
Another day, another Happy Tails! Today we feature Sophia, an 8-year-old, 8-pound Chihuahua that came to us from the ASPCA in mid-June. Her incredible cuteness was an instant hit with our volunteers, and one of our very own veterinary partners, Dr. Matt Miller, and his partner Hillary became her loving foster parents and eventual adopters. It was the perfect situation for a little senior gal that had some lingering medical issues and needed a little extra TLC! We couldn't have retold this happy tails better than Sophia's own family.
It was Sophia’s undoubtedly sassy, overflowing personality that helped us form an almost immediate connection with her.
When we started fostering her, she had several major health problems: skin infections, residual bone and lip infections from her recent full-mouth dental extractions, esophagitis, and suspected kennel cough. There was an adjustment period: Sophia required a higher level of care compared with our other animals. With no teeth, she has to eat canned food, and in the beginning, her medical conditions required us to give her several medications 2-3 times a day. As a result, we mostly saw the grumpy side of her at first, as she toothlessly growled at us every time we had to wipe her face or medicate her (Sophia's skeptical side-eye cannot be matched!).
Because we both work in vet med, the integration of Sophia’s needs has been fairly seamless. Over several weeks, as we treated each of her problems, her sweeter side emerged. She still gives us sass from time to time (she hates when the cats get the zoomies!), but mostly we're left with the sweet dog that was underneath those rotten teeth the whole time. The bigger change has been in public, where we now get constant stares and smiles as we carry her everywhere with us in a baby sling.
Bringing Sophia home further proved our already-favorable view of rescues and adoptions. Sophia has given us so much— including another constant source of cuteness and spunk!
