Tesha

When we rescued Elsie, we had no idea that she was pregnant as she was so very thin. Then she shocked us all by suddenly going into labour. Only one puppy survived: Tesha.

Sadly Elsie had no milk to feed her puppy and was in no state to care for her as she recovered from a surgery. That’s why we kept Tesha in an incubator at the shelter.
She did really well for such a long time, eating a lot and putting on weight. But as she never got the essential colostrum from her mothers milk that builds up immunity, we knew she would be vulnerable to disease.
Even so, we were starting to get hopeful that maybe Tesha would pull through. So when she suddenly stopped eating and became lethargic, we were sick with worry. We tested her for a range of diseases and she tested positive for Giardiasis. It’s common at shelters and most dogs don’t suffer greatly. But in old dogs and puppies it can be fatal.
We did everything in our power to help Tesha survive, but sadly she died the following day.
We’re devastated that we couldn’t save little Tesha. We had been caring for her for more than a month, handfeeding her every few hours, so to lose her at this stage really hits hard.
Run free sweet Tesha. You were so very loved in your short time on Earth.