For weeks, people had heard her crying in the cold. We found her alone in the snow at 1.4°F (-17°C), and though she was very afraid of us, we waited until she came to us.
Her name is a nod to the singer Billie Eilish, and to the -17 °C day we found her alone in the snow.
Watch the video13:05Abandoned Puppy was Scared to Death and Struggling to Survive until This Happened · January 29, 2022 · Open on YouTube ↗
For weeks, people had heard a small puppy crying somewhere out in the cold. Their emergency call brought us out to find her. Snow covered the open ground below the apartment blocks when we got there, so we searched for her tracks, and it took us quite a while.
At last we saw her, standing in the dry brush beside a fence. She was all alone. We guessed she was about two months old, most likely a stray who had been living outside. That day it was 1.4°F (-17°C), and on her own, a puppy that small had little chance of surviving the winter.
Getting close to her was another matter, because she was very afraid of us. So we took our time and stayed near her for a while, letting her get used to us. In the end it worked, and she came to us. Snow was caught in her fur and she was very cold, but she was safe now.
She needed warmth and food before anything else, so we went straight to the car, turned the heat all the way up and fed her with what we had. She was starving, and we believe she had not eaten in days. We had forgotten our puppy bowl, but we made do. When the last of the food was gone, she was still hungry.
Hungry or not, she fell asleep almost as soon as we set off. We were on our way to the vet, but in the warm car the snow on her melted, and we saw that under her fur she was covered in mud and dirt. The vet could wait. First, she needed a bath.
By the time we got her home, the sun had come out. She was curious about the bath at first, but it soon turned out she was afraid of the water, so we were very gentle as we washed out the dirt and as many fleas as we could. She kept her spirits up through what was probably the first bath of her life. It took three washes, but she came out clean.
Once she was dry, she met the other puppy in the house, and after a lot of sniffing, the two of them started to play. A proper meal followed, then more games. Earlier that day, she had been alone in the snow by a fence. Now she had company.
The vet visit we had put off came next. She weighed 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg), and after an anti-parasitic pill and a few more checks, we left with medication for her to take at home. Back in the car, she fell asleep again, this time clean and warm. When we filmed her story, we were looking for a family for Chilly Eilish.
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