Abused pup looks for forever home after siblings find families
CHICAGO - If any pup deserves a home for the holidays, it's Athena.
A suburban rescue is looking for her forever home, after Athena and her siblings were nearly euthanized because of a potential case of animal abuse.
"This is Athena. She's a little over three months old," said Athena’s foster mom Christine Martino of Itasca, as she held the wiggling puppy. "And she's looking for her forever home for Christmas."
For the past three months, Martino has been providing a foster home for a litter of six American bullies born in early September. Now, Athena is the only pup still looking for a home.
When they were just days old, the six puppies—a male and five females—were turned over to a suburban rescue in deplorable conditions.
"I was horrified. I've never seen an animal in that shape ever," said Peter Cangelosi, who runs a suburban pet rescue called Pets and Vets USA. "All the dogs had lacerations all over their body. Maybe three to eight cut marks all over each of the dogs. Five of six had on their inner thighs all sliced open."
Cangelosi immediately contacted Martino, who has experience fostering large numbers of puppies.
"So I took them to a veterinarian and the veterinarian said it was the worst case of puppy abuse they've ever seen," said Martino. "And we got them fixed."
It took scores of stitches, lots of love, and the maternal instincts of another dog Martino was fostering.
"I have another mom dog here who had three of her own puppies. She let them nurse off her. She licked their wounds. Thanks to her, I feel that's how they survived."
After postings on Facebook and Petfinder, all five of Athena's siblings have now been adopted.
"We got calls from all over the United States," said Cangelosi. "Two of our dogs went out of state. One went to Colorado. They actually drove from Colorado all the way here."
Only Athena remains. Martino and Cangelosi are hoping to change that before Christmas.
"With everything she's been through, we want to get her in a home for Christmas," said Cangelosi. "So she can enjoy some love. She had a real rough start in life, and she's such a sweetheart."
"Hopefully whoever takes her is going to let her sleep with them. Because she loves to sleep in the bed," added Martino. "A big cuddler."
Anyone interested in adopting Athena can find her and other pups at petsandvetsusa.com.
Cangelosi said the DuPage County State's Attorney has opened an investigation into how the puppies were injured in the first place.