Faces of No-Kill: Bottle-baby puppy hops into happiness

Imagine holding a 1-week-old puppy in your hand. She fits right in your palm and weighs less than a deck of playing cards. To keep this little life alive, you need to feed her formula with a tiny bottle every few hours. Her entire world depends on you.

Caring for newborn puppies and kittens who need to be bottle-fed is a huge responsibility, but it’s something foster volunteers and animal care staff are glad to do. They know that a big time commitment now can lead to a lifetime of love and happiness for that pet and their family. Just look at Rory.

Named after the quick-witted, big-dreaming daughter from Gilmore Girls, Rory came to the Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Bentonville, Arkansas, from a shelter several hours away. The black-and-white pup was just days old, and she was weak and dehydrated. After the Best Friends vet team made sure she was stable, foster volunteers took turns providing Rory with round-the-clock care.

[Neighbors team up to save orphaned puppies]

When Rory was about 3 weeks old, she went to stay with foster volunteer Sage. Sage continued with bottle-feeding (and often couldn’t resist scratching Rory’s round tummy after a good meal). The pint-sized pup grew stronger by the day, and before long, she was on the move. She even developed her own way to get around — not quite a run, not quite a jump, but a bouncy hop, hop, hop.

Rory stayed with Sage for about six weeks before returning to the pet resource center, healthy and ready for anything. After she was spayed, an adoptive family scooped her right up.

[Foster family welcomes six puppies to the world]

Rory’s new home is her own version of the Gilmores’ Stars Hollow, a magical place filled with love where she’s free to be herself. While her TV namesake contemplates where to go to college and which guy to date, Rory the puppy’s biggest decision is choosing which toy to play with. Often, that toy is a stuffed platypus twice her size, which she proudly carries while romping around the yard.

Whether she wants to play fetch outside or cuddle on the couch while binging a show, her family will be there to support her. In turn, she keeps them smiling and laughing, especially when she does her signature hop. Rory has a bright future ahead of her, and we can’t wait to watch.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.