The poor thing was very ᴡᴇᴀᴋ, as well no one knew if he’d even sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇ his first night on this Earth. The ᴠᴇᴛ decided the best thing to do would be to ᴇᴜᴛʜᴀɴɪᴢᴇ him. Luckily, Lou Robinson and her husband didn’t agree with his sentiment.
Nubby was ʙᴏʀɴ with a ᴄᴏɴɢᴇɴɪᴛᴀʟ ᴅᴇғᴇᴄᴛ that left him with only two limbs. Without his front ʟᴇɢs, the ᴠᴇᴛs weren’t sure how the pup would sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇ. He would be unable to push his way through his siblings to get to his mother’s milk or to learn basic sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴀʟ techniques with the rest of his litter. Lou Robinson, Nubby’s foster mom, said: “His siblings were ᴘᴜsʜɪɴɢ him out of the way. He came home with me.” Robinson is a longtime animal ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇʀ based outside Houston, Texas, and founder of a group called Warriors Educate About Ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ – through which Robinson teaches classes about how to compassionately care for animals, and puts out a calendar featuring Texas fireғɪɢʜᴛers with ʀᴇsᴄᴜᴇ pets. The couple researched all they could to find out how to keep this newʙᴏʀɴ puppy ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ. They gladly accepted the challenge, bottle ꜰᴇᴇᴅɪɴɢ him regularly and making sure he was as comfortable as possible in his new home. Nubby did not just sᴜʀᴠɪᴠᴇ, but he thrived.
Robinson said:” Day three came and went, day seven, day 10, day 16 and Nubby thrived. He thrived!. His eyes opened, his ears developed, he found his sounds, smells and voice.” And then one Friday afternoon, just a little over three weeks after he’d arrived, things changed for the ᴡᴏʀsᴇ. Nubby was sɴᴇᴇᴢɪɴɢ. He wasn’t ᴘᴏᴏᴘɪɴɢ. He didn’t seem to want to eat. He was blowing milk bubbles out of his nose. Robinson said:” He was going downhill. X-ʀᴀʏs revealed that Nubby didn’t just have the ᴅʀᴇᴀᴅᴇᴅ ᴘɴᴇᴜᴍᴏɴɪᴀ. The 3-pound pup had an ‘ᴇsᴏᴘʜᴀɢᴇᴀʟ ᴀʙɴᴏʀᴍᴀʟɪᴛʏ’. He had a pocket form in his ᴇsᴏᴘʜᴀɢᴜs that was trapping his milk. Nubby was given an ⒾⓋ full of heavy duty ᴀɴᴛɪʙɪᴏᴛɪᴄs and placed in an ᴏxʏɢᴇɴ chamber.”
The doggie is back with his foster parents, and they are taking it day by day. He just turned 5 weeks old, and his favorite thing is snuggles with his dad. Robinson said:” As long as he has a chance at quality of life, we will ғɪɢʜᴛ to give him that chance. Different is not disposable. In order to change the future, we must teach the present.” Now, Nubby has grown into a wonderful dog. You can barely recognize him as the tiny two-ʟᴇɢɢᴇᴅ pup that needed to be regularly bottle-fed. The Robinsons love him more and more each day and are so proud to see the sweet, adorable dog he’s grown into thanks to the love and care of his family. He is smart. He is active. He is learning to do an ᴀʀᴍʏ ᴄʀᴀᴡʟ, and is trying to get up onto his back ʟᴇɢs by ᴘᴜsʜɪɴɢ off from his face. He seems ꜰʀᴜsᴛʀᴀᴛᴇᴅ, ‘pissed off’.
