Everyone loves an underdog. Just ask Kayak, an adorable puppy who was abandoned and found floating in a box down a Texas river two months ago. Now he’s settling into his forever home with a new dog mom and a little kid sister.
A Rough Start
Kayak’s journey has been a long and tumultuous one. It all began on Oct. 3, when a pair of do-gooders pulled the then-2-month-old emaciated pup out of a river. They took him to a local animal shelter, where shelter employees diagnosed him with canine parvovirus (commonly known as parvo). This very contagious virus can be fatal if left untreated.
When shelter staff determined they were unable to treat the condition, the good Samaritans volunteered to drive the fur baby to a nonprofit, no-kill shelter called Austin Pets Alive! two hours away. That facility has an ICU specifically for canines infected with parvo. The condition is challenging to treat because dogs with parvo must be isolated during treatment and for up to two weeks afterward. It can also be very expensive to treat. But the parvo ICU at Austin Pets Alive! boasts around a 90% survival rate.
“We will try anything that will help the pets in our care,” Suzie Chase, community relations officer at Austin Pets Alive!, told TODAY. “We believe all of them deserve a chance at being in a loving home.”
When Kayak arrived at their facility, he weighed only 16 pounds and was in dire need of fluids. Employees there immediately initiated life-saving treatment.
“He was in really, really bad shape,” Chase told TODAY. “Our medical manager said that he was crashing when he arrived.”
A Second Chance
Kayak miraculously pulled through. After successful parvo treatment, he joined other puppies at the shelter and became available for adoption. Just his luck, a woman named Ascencia Barajas came by with her 3-year-old daughter, Ryanne, in tow. It was love at first sight.
“Kayak was just calm, cool and collected,” Barajas told TODAY. “He was sitting there with his big ol’ ears that went to the side. They were just adorable. And when my daughter got close, he didn’t bark at her like the other puppies did. None of the other dogs vibed with Ryanne like Kayak did.”
When Barajas learned of Kayak’s harrowing backstory, it made her want to cry. Perhaps Kayak would have cried, too – tears of joy, that is – because Barajas adopted him. Barajas said Kayak instantly settled in at his forever home with his new family.
“It seems like Kayak is very grateful to be in a home — not in the water, not in a box, and not in a shelter,” she told TODAY. “You can just tell that he is so grateful to be with us.”
You could say Kayak’s journey turned out swimmingly in the end.
