Behind the Cover: PAWS Atlanta
Words by Shivani Kapoor
In 2019, an email popped up in my inbox that I couldn’t get out of my head.
I receive an estimated 247 weekly animal rescue emails (highly recommend), and often end up ignoring them—not because I don’t care, but because of the repetition of seeing them daily. This one, however, caught my attention. Staring back from my screen was this squished face with golden expressive eyes, wearing a full body cast that read “get well soon Elvis.” There was no other information in the email—just an announcement of an upcoming benefit event. I had no intention of getting another dog at this point—my 12 year old Boston Terrier rescue, Dexter, was enjoying his only-child life, and we were content. Still, I screenshotted the email and kept it on my phone, periodically showing it to friends and family along with a “LOOK AT THIS FACE!” The response was always polite nods and smiles, sometimes the occasional “Wow that’s nice,” or “What a funny-looking dog.
Fast forward three months, and his face appeared in my mind again. Just for fun, I opened my browser and perused a few local shelter sites, but I didn’t come across any dog that seemed like it could be him. I figured it must have just been a cute photo for an email, and he was long-ago adopted. Then I opened that screenshot, and I realized it was from PAWS Atlanta. I immediately went to their site and saw the newest listing at the top of the page. It had no photo, but included in the description was “the biggest tripawd dingus in the Southeast.” I thought that it had to be him! I immediately filled out an application online. The adoption coordinator from PAWS got back to me with an application approval that afternoon, so I hopped in the car and went straight to their facility in Decatur, Georgia.
That evening I was home with my very own tripawd dingus, Iggy Pup (formerly Elvis).
At PAWS Atlanta, I learned that Iggy had been found by the local county shelter after he had been hit by a car, leaving his front right leg badly damaged. PAWS took him in, performed the necessary surgery at their in-house vet clinic to remove his leg, and then kept and cared for him for 3 months—rehabilitating him and getting him used to his new three-legged lifestyle.
When I brought him home, he immediately fit in. His new brother, Dexter, quickly came to love him just as much as I did. When Dexter sadly crossed the rainbow bridge just a few short months later, I was so grateful to have Iggy by my side—he helped to make that huge impact just a bit softer—my new best friend!
I’m so thankful for the people at PAWS Atlanta—their staff and volunteers work tirelessly every day to make sure animals are placed into loving homes. They are a great organization running completely off of donations and adoption fees.
My life changed the day I received that email from their marketing team. It can be easy to ignore the emails that pile up in your inbox. But I now know from my experience, it’s always best to follow your instinct—you may also find not only your new best friend, but a new member of the family.