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Mya’s Story

Mya was a stray who came into Helping Hands Humane Society very pregnant and scared. We had a foster family ready to take her but under Kansas state law, she had to be held as a stray to allow her owner time to claim her. We were very worried that she would deliver at any moment. After her stray time was up, she went to stay with her foster family and went into labor just three days later. She had no problems delivering the first puppy, but then started to hemorrhage. Her foster mommy rushed her to the veterinarian where seven more beautiful purebred German Shepard puppies were delivered by emergency cesarean section.

Mom and babies were doing fine following surgery and soon returned to their foster home. Mya did such a wonderful job taking care of her puppies. She was very gentle with them and rarely would leave the whelping box. When she did, all it took was one little whimper and she was right back in there.

As it happens with too many other dogs, we discovered that Mya was heartworm positive. A fundraiser was started to raise money for treatment. In the meantime, we waited for her puppies to be weaned so she could be spayed.

In just a few short days, one of her puppies became very ill and had to be rushed to the vet. The puppy died shortly afterwards. The veterinarian did a necropsy to find out the cause of death. When he discovered the kidneys had lesions on them, he decided to send samples to K-State for analysis. We knew it could take several days to get the results back and all we could do was hope that the rest of the puppies were healthy. But it was not meant to be. One by one, day by day, another pup would show the same symptoms as the first puppy. By the time the puppies were ten days old, we had lost all eight of them. Test results revealed that the litter had canine herpes. Mya had it in her uterus and the puppies never had a chance for survival.

Mya had a very hard time with this and looked for her puppies for several days. Her foster mommy started taking her to work every day and they were together 24/7. This created a special bond, and Mya soon became her shadow.

A few weeks later, Mya was spayed and had her heartworm treatment. She is now in a permanent home with her forever family who loves her unconditionally. She goes to work with her new mommy every day too!

Mya left a definite impression in the hearts of her foster mommy and the staff at HHHS. She went through more in a few weeks time than most humans could handle.

Thanks to donations from the public, HHHS will be able to treat several dogs that come in with heartworms so they can find the forever homes they so desperately deserve!