Now a month old, seven puppies rescued from a Marietta dumpster where they were left to die at birth are thriving.
The pups have been in the loving care of foster volunteers associated with a Cobb nonprofit for newborn puppies and will be available for adoption in just over five weeks.
Sloan, Ferris, Bueller, Grace, Jeanie, Rooney and Cameron were found in a dumpster for cardboard behind a store on Dallas Highway just a few hours after they were born July 28.
Some of the puppies still had their umbilical cords attached when they were discovered inside a cardboard box by Dallas couple Tara and Craig Sloan around 2:30 p.m. as they were on their way home from church.
They stopped at the Tuesday Morning store at 3600 Dallas Highway to get broken down cardboard boxes from the dumpster behind the shop, intending to use the boxes for church bake sales.
Hearing what they thought were kittens, they soon found the source of the squeaking.
After police were called, the puppies were transferred into the care of Bosley’s Place, a Cobb nonprofit established in 2014 to care for homeless and orphaned newborn puppies until they are old enough for adoption.
Bosley’s Place founder and director Jennifer Siegel is currently awaiting the results of DNA tests to determine which breeds the puppies are.
Four are female and three are male.
“Normally I would say a pitbull mix, but two or three of them have longer hair,” Siegel told the MDJ when the puppies were a day old. “They’re going to be medium to large size dogs; they’re definitely not a small breed.”
At the time, the puppies were as helpless as can be, needing to be fed via bottles and tubes every couple of hours and unable to see or regulate their body temperature.
Several could fit comfortably in the palm of a hand.
They would have died within an hour or two if not found, Siegel said.
But now their round bellies reflect contentment, healthy appetites and safe surroundings.
Their eyes are open and they don’t need as much intensive supervision.
“Their little personalities are just beginning to come out, all of them sweet and playful,” Siegel told the MDJ this week.
She says the seven puppies are growing up with a “pseudo sibling” — a single puppy whose mother was hit and killed by a car in Savannah, Georgia.
“She is only one day older than them, so in essence they are already paying it forward,” Siegel said.