Helen Woodward Animal Center staff members are familiar with the unfortunate number of abandoned cats and dogs who come through the Center doors. Many have suffered from neglect and severe malnutrition and are in need of medical care and prayers for a miracle. A tiny baby goat rescued under these conditions, however, is rare indeed and one traveling all the way from Nevada on her one-month birthday deserves a bit of fanfare.
On Monday, June 18, Millie will become Helen Woodward’s newest resident, Millie the Kid! The delicate, exactly one-month-old goat has already proven that she is ready to take the world by storm and is excited to begin her life as the youngest member of the Humane Education team. Millie is set to arrive by van at noon in front of the adoptions entrance and a group of Critter Campers will be waiting to welcome her to her new home.
Millie was born on May 18 and was turned into a Las Vegas animal shelter, near death, only days later. Her backstory is troubling. Born to a mother whose milk was dry, her owner passed Millie on to another person who had a nursing mother goat, hoping the baby would take to her. She didn’t. The second owner of Millie allegedly tried to bottle feed her over several days but Millie never took the food and was never taken to a doctor for help.
Four days after her birth, Millie was found in the back of a hot car in a hotel parking garage, unable to stand or hold up her head. Animal control was called to rescue her and she was turned into the local shelter with little hope of survival.
Taken in by foster mom Monique Hanson, the grueling battle began. Hanson even started a Facebook page with videos and updates – Millie: Princess Goat – for her growing number of well-wishers.
Goats enter the world without an immune system and build their immune systems through their mother’s first milk, colostrum. For this reason, the first few days of a goat’s life are critical to their survival. Left to fend for themselves they become frail and underweight and worse, develop severe infections they are unable to fight.
An upper respiratory infection, a bad eye infection and a severe UTI, all contributed to the near complete shutdown of Millie’s tiny body. By May 31, after multiple vet visits, formula feedings every 4 hours, antibiotics, nebulizer treatments 2-3 times daily, and hundreds of dollars in medical expenses, all leading to little improvement, experts felt that her body had been permanently compromised. It seemed the kindest thing was to stop Millie’s suffering and put her down.
Millie, however, had the spunk of a goat and was ready to show the world what she was made of. Hanson brought the tiny goat home with her to enjoy one last night in a comfortable bed. Millie made sure her foster mother was never out of her sight, “yelling” for her mom, if she ever left the room. The two slept side by side.
The next morning, Hanson posted the following message to Millie’s Facebook page:
June 1 at 8:40am
I don’t feel today is the day.
Millie was ready to fight, scarfing down her food and vitamin paste, taking her sub-Q fluids, antibiotics, and eye drops like a champ, and even showing off some goat-y bucking! She was a true miracle.
Cynthia Elizabeth from Nevada based Urban Underdogs Corp., reached out to Helen Woodward President and CEO Mike Arms at the Center’s most recent Business of Saving Lives Conference held in Pahrump, Nevada. Elizabeth had assisted Hanson with the tiny goat, picking up medicine and supplies and fostering Millie during part of her recovery.
“She explained to me that Monique (Hanson) was seeking a permanent home for Millie,” explained Arms. “She wanted to find a place where she could get lots of attention but also live the life of a goat. I knew that our Humane Education program would provide Millie all the love she deserved and Millie could also serve as a teacher to the kids about compassion for animals and the responsibility we have towards all the beautiful creatures on this earth.”
Millie will make her new home in the cozy stall once occupied by the center’s famous twin foals, Sunny and Angel. The center will be keeping new and old fans up-to-date on her new life at the Center through a live webcam and Facebook Live posts.
–Helen Woodward Animal Center