"Never ever give up" is the main message I have been sharing on my social media account for 7 years already, since the moment I moved to live in Portugal completely alone without knowing anyone or anything here. That sentence has always kept me going, no matter how hard and dark it sometimes was, and when I saw the exact same sentence shared next to the photo of the newly adopted one-eyed dog Spinach, it brought me into tears.
The pup was only 3 months old and in terrible condition when he came to the Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) shelter. He had to spend more than 400 lonely days, but finally, all this waiting has paid off.
More info: Austin Pets Alive!
One-eyed dog called Spinach came to the shelter at only 3 months old, yet 432 days later, he was still there without being adopted
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Spinach was brought to the shelter with a ruptured eye and if they hadn't accepted him at the time, the dog would have been put down.
Unfortunately, the vets had to remove the eye, yet after the operation, the puppy felt much better and everyone at APA! hoped that now he would be adopted very soon. Yet time passed by, and 432 days later, Spinach was still there waiting for a home.
Once very active and optimistic, the puppy now was deeply sad, losing his last hopes to be adopted, but for all this time, staff members and volunteers had fallen in love with him so much that they were not going to let him give up.
"It was heartbreaking because you could tell how sad he was," shared Frankie Helfey, a volunteer at APA!.
Spinach's sadness was so unbearable that he almost wouldn't eat.
"It had been a few months since he was not eating as much, he was losing weight, and we started getting creative..." Frankie explained. "Every week, we would change [things] up so he would eat. For the last two months, I gave him 2-4 bowls of food just to see what he would eat."
Yet it didn't seem to help much and it became very clear that Spinach had to get out of the shelter as soon as possible.
The dog was so sad that he almost didn't eat, but the volunteers wouldn't give up on him and would serve Spinach 2-4 bowls of food just to cheer him up a little
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: IS Davenport
The shelter team decided not to wait any longer and made a beautiful publication about Spinach on their social media. It was so successful that it immediately drew attention from millions of people and to everyone's joy, he was finally adopted.
"Spinach made the journey to his new home in Oklahoma. Thanks to all the support Spinach has received – near and far – we were able to find his perfect match!" APA! announced the exciting news. "Thank you to everyone who has been following his journey and championing his future. Without you, this #HappyTail wouldn’t be paw-sible!"
And what is even more beautiful in this story is that Spinach got not only a new loving family, but also a new fur-ever friend.
“Spinach… this is your best chapter yet,” APA! wrote on their Instagram next to the shared video where people can see the dog joyfully playing with a new sibling.
Everyone at APA! is super happy about Spinach and his long-awaited and truly deserved happy ending, yet it wasn't easy to let go of him.
"I am going to miss his face," said Frankie. "As a volunteer, when you spend so much time at the shelter building these bonds, you know that you will miss them - but you also never want to see them back in the shelter," he explained and added that it was a lot of happy tears and also some anxiousness when Spinach was finally driven to his home in Oklahoma.
A family in Oklahoma fell in love with Spinach and, after more than a year of waiting, Spinach finally got his happy ending
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
"Dogs have always meant a great deal to me," shared Raymond Beltrane, whose family has adopted the dog, in an interview with Bored Panda. "When I saw Spinach online I just couldn’t believe what he had been through in his short life."
Raymond also noted that many people at the time were posting that they would like to give him a home, but no one actually did it.
Asked about what he loves the most about his new furry family member, the man told us that Spinach is an amazing dog in general.
"I feel fortunate that he’s sharing his life with Adē and I," Raymond said. "I think it was meant to be. I look forward to all our adventures together. He’s a special pup."
Image credits: @rstephenbelt
Image credits: Austin Pets Alive!
Image credits: @rstephenbelt
"No matter what you’re going through, no matter the challenges that seem insurmountable, you can get through it if you don’t give up," Miles Anthony Smith said once. It's just that sometimes, we need a little help to gather our strength and find our faith again: that's exactly what happened in Spinach's story when all the volunteers at the shelter refused to let him give up.
And there's nothing more beautiful than to see someone who didn't have luck with love for so long finally being loved and wrapped in the warmth of so much happiness. Your best chapter in this life is yet to come, Spinach!
People on the internet couldn't hold back their joy about such a wonderful ending in Spinach's story
