Prudence the Shelter Dog Finds Her Forever Home After 220 Days

Everybody loves a good adoption story, especially when the happy ending is a long time in coming. For Prudence, a 2(ish)-year-old mixed-breed dog in Cincinnati, that wait was almost half her life.

But they say that good things come to those who wait, and for Prudence, that payoff came Friday—220 days after she first found her way to the Cincinnati SPCA. And, as the photos shared by the org to Facebook can attest, the little mutt couldn't be happier!

"The queen has left the building!" begins the SPCA's exuberant post. "Her family is AMAZING. Prudence was instantly in LOVE. Our hearts are soooo FULL!"

While every shelter would love to see their pets adopted into forever homes as quickly as possible, longer stays are common. For Prudence, her stay was originally attributed to medical troubles.

"We noticed that she was limping on her right rear leg," SPCA's Hollie Bullucks, RVT, tells Daily Paws. "She had an old fracture on her pelvis that required a femoral head ostectomy [FHO]. Her rehab was a pretty rough recovery."

The FHO surgery took about two hours to complete, after which Prudence had to undergo physical therapy and recovery before she could safely be adopted out. Now, however, all signs point to her living a healthy, happy life.

Once she was recovered and looking for her forever home, the SPCA put its efforts to find Prudence a home into overdrive.

"We made a list of dogs that had been in our system for a while and Prudence was our top dog," says Aubrey Keith, an admissions specialist with Cincinnati SPCA. "We have a new social media manager and she's been great, so we've been posting a lot of photos and videos."

The SPCA turned to that strategy four days before Prudence was adopted, pleading for someone to step up and adopt the wonderful, smiley girl. The queen was looking for a home that could provide chicken snacks, but mostly she just needed love and support.

"She deserves it and we hope that our incredible community will help share this post and tell everyone they know about this special girl," the SPCA wrote.

And it's obvious from the responses to Prudence's adoption announcement that the local community rallied behind her.

"My heart swelled when I read this," says one Facebook comment. "She looks so happy. Bless this family," says another.

"Thank you to everyone who shared her, spoke about her and referred people to come meet her," the SPCA's Facebook post concludes. "YOU ALL HELPED US ACCOMPLISH THIS!"