Puppies need homes after abandoned on Kansas road: “It simply breaks our hearts”
A Merriam animal shelter is looking for new homes for eleven puppies who were abandoned together on the side of the road on Thursday morning.
The puppies were in one crate by the side of a Kansas road around 9:45 a.m., according to the Great Plains SPCA, an animal shelter. They were brought to the Merriam campus of the Great Plains SPCA shelter within an hour of being discovered, shelter staff wrote online on Thursday.
“It simply breaks our hearts to see the amount of innocent animals left to die on the streets,” shelter staff wrote. “All of these pups are filthy, exhausted from their ordeal, and immediately fell asleep once they realized they were safe.”
The puppies’ ages, breed information and medical histories are not yet known.
Shelter staff said that caring for the rescued dogs could put an additional strain on shelter staff already working with other rescues who have parvo, or canine parvovirus infection. Puppies between 6 and 20 weeks old are particularly susceptible to parvo, which affects the white blood cells and gastrointestinal tracts of dogs and foxes along with some puppies’ heart muscles, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Though the puppies will not be immediately available for adoption, shelter staff are asking for donations for the care of the puppies. A Facebook fundraiser for Great Plains SPCA raised over $800 on Thursday.
Approximately 3.1 million dogs are taken into animal shelters every year in the United States, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. At the Great Plains SPCA Merriam shelter, 2,363 animals entered the shelter in 2023 and 2,020 were adopted, with dogs staying at the shelter for an average of 28 days.
This story was originally published September 19, 2024 at 7:34 PM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly described the age range of dogs most affected by canine parvovirus infection. The range is 6 to 20 weeks.
