A bulldog found dumped beside the A55 two months ago has given birth to puppies.
Rosie, who was found on May 15, was soon taken to the Protection of Animals in Wales Society (PAWS) centre in Conwy, where vets discovered scar tissue on her underside, deformed teats that were dragging and preventing her from walking properly, injuries to her paws and an infected and smelly tail stump.
Two days later, carers discovered she was pregnant after she became “a little restless”, and on a visit to Pritchard’s Veterinary Centre, an emergency c-section was performed, giving birth to four puppies.
One of the litter was stillborn, but the three remaining pus are all being raised by Rosie, with help from PAWS workers, who supplement their feed due to Rosie’s deformed teats.
A PAWS spokesperson said: “The vets who examined her didn't believe her to be pregnant, masked by her poor and underweight condition and we believe the breeders may have also believed this too, then going on to dump her as they believed she was no longer of use having missed the signs or getting their dates wrong.
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“You can imagine the shock when we took her in to be rechecked due to the strange behaviour and found her to be at full term!
North Wales Police launched an investigation after Rosie was found due to her microchip being a Russian chip called a FelixCan chip.
The charity said that the UK Customs Animal Import and Export said at the time that it was likely that Rosie had been brought into the country under suspicious circumstances.
A PAWS spokesperson said: “We have received an update from North Wales Police to advise us that although they have now done all they can with this investigation here in Wales, intelligence is being shared with other forces around the UK in relation to this incident which is great news indeed in reference to illegal puppy farming and animal abuse cases.
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“As it stands at the moment, the emergency care Rosie has received, including the emergency c section and puppy care has come to over £1500.
“We are so very grateful for the huge donations from the Tyler's Tales event and the Animals Little Helper group, but we are still needing to raise £900 and then most likely another few thousand to sort her excess skin, tail stump, eyes and all of the puppy vaccinations and neutering.”
Rosie will be undergoing surgery today to have her excess skin removed.
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