Although, at first, it may not seem like that, but the world is filled with incredible people who do such amazing things and help those most in need.
One of them is Kathryn Mongrain, a licensed veterinary technician from Houston, Texas. She has been working in an emergency hospital for many years now, but in 2015, she decided to focus on special needs babies.
She created “The Bottle Brigade”, a safe place where all special needs/medical fur babies would get a second chance. Otherwise, they would be sadly euthanized.
Hammy, The Sass Master
Hammy came to Kathryn’s care from Tiny Paws Rescue, a non-profit organization and small-breed dog rescue from The Woodlands, Texas.
Genny Zygmanik Murphy is the founder and CEO of the rescue, and she needed help with Hammy because he had a cleft palate.
For the first couple of days at The Bottle Brigade, Hammy was having a lot of trouble breathing. He was not himself at all.
It was evident that this small baby was having a hard time, but he was a fighter, and he was not about to give up.
Kathryn had to put him in the incubator.
After a couple of days, when Hammy was starting to feel a little bit better, she would take him slowly out of the incubator to get him adjusted.
But, he still had to go back inside, and Hammy was not having it.
Although he was a sick, teeny-tiny baby, he had the strength to protest. Kathryn recounts, “He was like, ‘Umm, why am I back in here?’”
Little Hammy found his voice and he was screaming at full force.
“Hammy was telling me he was ready to come out of the incubator. That boy’s lungs were no problem any longer,” Kathryn said.
“The second his eyes opened, he saw the world, and he just wanted to scream. He would let you know when he did not want to do something, when you weren’t looking at him, and he would let you know when he wanted attention.”
He might have been tiny, but his voice was powerful, and he wanted to be heard.
“Every time you would talk to him, he would just, like, sass you back,” said Kathryn.
As soon as he was feeling better, he started to run all around the house, and he loved it. Hammy even found a friend at the house.
It was Etta, a 100-pound Great Dane. Even though Hammy weighed only 5 pounds and was miniscule compared to Etta, he would still sass at her.
It was like he had no idea that she was a hundred times bigger than him.
“He came to work with me every single day at the hospital. Everybody was his friend. When we would leave work with Hammy, we’d come home, and he’d be ready to run around and play,” described Kathryn.
It was almost like he knew he got a second chance, and he was not about to waste it. This little guy was enjoying his life to the fullest.
When he was healthy enough, Hammy went back to Genny, the woman who had brought him to Kathryn in the first place.
“Hammy is just like a walking miracle, and it just gives me so much more faith in my other babies, too, that they can get through it,” Kathryn said.
He had to go through two cleft surgeries, but fortunately, Hammy is now a healthy boy.
Genny wrote an update on her Facebook profile, saying:
“Guess what, Hammy is now a “normal” pup!! He can eat regular dog food and drink from a bowl! Still on seizure medicine with bells on collar to alert If he has a seizure and Hammy has the emphysema smokers cough caused by his multiple pneumonias. Hammy is such a happy, joyous MIRACLE!!”
Thanks to these two women who believed in Hammy and were willing to do everything for this little sassy boy, he is now a healthy and happy pup, just like the others.
Hammy’s journey is shown in the video below:
