Dixie Belle

Dolly is the mom of Dixie and Buckwheat. The 3 of them were wandering in a swamp and had been seen returning to the highway. We got a call to see if we could capture them and save them.

At the time, Buckwheat and Dixie were just babies, so they were fast. We finally caught Buckwheat and Dolly, but Dixie ended up at the shelter. We were able to get Dixie out of the shelter to be with her mama and brother.

After 3 months, Dolly delivered 16 babies, but we lost 3. She was so tiny, we had no idea she was pregnant.

We call the 13 babies gremlins because of the way they eat. We had to feed them after they were born to keep them alive. Dolly could not feed them all, and she was so weak from having so many babies.

We spent so much time keeping them warm, syringe feeding them, and making sure the babies could get close to their mother and bond with her. We stayed outside in her house for 72 hours until we knew Dolly was strong enough and had enough milk to care for them.