{"id":59346,"date":"2025-05-17T10:36:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T10:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=59346"},"modified":"2025-05-17T10:36:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T10:36:53","slug":"shelter-knits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=59346","title":{"rendered":"Shelter Knits?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All it took was yarn and love \ud83e\udd7a\ufe0f<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet Willy Wonka \u2014 a bubbly 2-year-old pit bull whose world changed when an unfortunate accident caused him to lose his ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe only lost his ear flaps \u2014 he\u2019s still able to hear!\u201d Sarah Varanini,\u00a0Sacramento SPCA\u2019s communications manager, told The Dodo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sacramento SPCA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two extensive trips to the vet, Willy\u2019s dad could no longer pay for his treatment, so he surrendered the pup to the SPCA in hopes of getting him the care that he needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time Willy got to the SPCA, he needed extensive care to get him healthy again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe spent the next few weeks cleaning the area, replacing sutures and staples, and replacing bandages every day,\u201d Varanini said. \u201cDespite the obviously painful injuries and traumatic events prior to his arrival, he remained ever-trusting of the shelter staff, and was an excellent<\/em> patient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sacramento SPCA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willy had a long road of recovery ahead of him, but his pain didn\u2019t get in the way of his heart \u2014 the pup fell head-over-heels for the shelter staff and they felt the same about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe shelter medicine team at the SPCA was just in love with him,\u201d Varanini said. \u201cWhich led to the creation of the ears \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One registered veterinary technician, John, developed an extra-special bond with Willy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sacramento SPCA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John was afraid that Willy\u2019s lack of ear flaps could cause adopters to think he was scary or unapproachable, so the compassionate vet tech came up with a plan \u2014 they would crochet a pair of replacement ears for the pup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccording to John, they had just the right yarn colors at home: white and pink to match Willy\u2019s fur,\u201d Varanini said. \u201cThey were able to \u2018whip up\u2019 the ears in only one evening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, John came back to the shelter and placed the ears on Willy\u2019s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sacramento SPCA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt first, Willy was confused about the strange thing we were trying to put on his head,\u201d Varanini said. \u201cBut once he realized he got lots of treats when the hat was on, he was much more accepting of our photo shoot!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The staff took pictures of Willy with his crocheted ears on and uploaded them to their social media pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they\u2019d hoped, Willy\u2019s crocheted ears garnered a lot of attention. Before long, the dog was adopted into a loving forever home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willy has changed a lot physically since his first days at the SPCA, now that he\u2019s fully recovered, but one thing\u2019s stayed the same: his personality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sacramento SPCA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWilly is just as lovely now as when he arrived,\u201d Varanini said. \u201cHe\u2019s a playful, giant marshmallow man and a cuddler extraordinaire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The staff at Sacramento SPCA miss seeing Willy every day, but they\u2019re so happy that he has a home now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sacramento SPCA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing so well,\u201d Varanini said. \u201cWilly has already claimed his spot on the couch and is showing his new puppy brother, Zeus, the ropes. He\u2019s also meeting cats for the first time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while he no longer needs his crocheted ears to find a home, Willy\u2019s previous caregivers hope his custom ears continue to bring him comfort and remind him of the lifelong friendships he made at Sacramento SCPA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All it took was yarn and love \ud83e\udd7a\ufe0f Meet Willy Wonka \u2014 a bubbly 2-year-old pit bull whose world changed when an unfortunate accident caused him to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59354,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59346\/revisions\/59354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}