Anyone who works in an animal shelter is used to seeing lots of cute scenes — and some heartbreaking ones. Recently, a furry individual arrived at the county shelter in Riverside, California, who was somehow a poignant mix of both.
Andrea Franco/Riverside County Animal Services
A tiny white and fluffy Maltese-Yorkie mix pup was being dropped off in the oddest “carrier” shelter staff had probably ever seen.
“We have seen some creative pet carriers in our days,” Riverside County Animal Services wrote on Facebook. “This real Cap’n Crunch cereal box has to be one of the oddest ways a pet came to us as an over-the-counter dropoff.”
Andrea Franco/Riverside County Animal Services
Shelter workers soon discovered that the pup, who was super sweet and lovable, was also terribly covered in fleas. And that’s when they realized just how mysterious this particular Crunch Berry, whom they named Razz Berry, really was.
The woman who had brought in Razz Berry claimed she had found the pup in a local park — but shelter workers wondered whether that woman was perhaps Razz Berry’s true owner who just didn’t want to get fleas all over her.
Little did anyone know that a perfect family was just waiting to give Razz Berry a home.
Andrea Franco/Riverside County Animal Services
After Razz Berry’s flea problem was taken care of, she started feeling much better, bouncing around the halls of the shelter and winning the hearts of everyone who laid eyes on her.
The intake photo of Razz Berry in the cereal box, meanwhile, was starting to get passed around online and even made the local news.
One family, the Sheets family, happened to see the photo on the news — but they were mourning their dog Ginger, who had just passed away.
Even so, they realized that the hole left in their home by Ginger’s passing could be filled by another pup who had no one to love. And their other dog, Pepper, who happened to be a Maltese-Yorkie mix like Razz Berry, would probably need a new friend, too.
That’s when Teresa, James and Hayden Sheets decided to meet Razz Berry and apply to become her new family.
Riverside County Department of Animal Services
But many other people had applied, too. The shelter thought it only fair to decide from among the dozens of good possible homes for Razz Berry through a lottery.
When Teresa drew the winning number, she realized that the cereal box dog was meant to be theirs — and Razz Berry happily nuzzled into Teresa’s arms.
John Welsh/Riverside County Animal Services
Overwhelmed with emotion, Teresa even shed a few happy tears.
Welcome home, Razz Berry.
