Grover the puppy clinging to life after being found in a box outside

Abandoned puppy rescued A puppy was found left in the cold. CTV’s Annie Bergeron Oliver has the CTV News Exclusive.

A puppy is being given a new lease on life after a passerby spotted him freezing to death in a box beside a dumpster at Place D'Orléans.

The roughly eight week old mix-breed puppy was discovered on Thursday night by an unknown man and dropped off at the Orléans Veterinary Hospital. Staff at the clinic say the man was panicked and didn't know what else to do.

"I had no idea what was in the box or what was going on," said Morgan Discoll, a receptionist at the clinic. "I just opened the box and it was his little face looking up. It broke my heart and I was touched immediately."

Staff at the clinic worked around the clock to give the puppy a fighting chance, including taking him home for the night for observation.

When the puppy was brought in Dr. Kurt Streib says he was covered in his own excriment, emaciated and shivering uncontrollably. He believes the puppy was outside for at least an hour or two before being discovered.

"He was in really tough shape," says Streib. "His prognosis is still guarded. He started out behind the eight ball, so to say."

Clinic staff initially named the litle guy Oscar, but quickly decided the name Grover was a better fit.

"He is really, really sweet," said Discoll. "The story touched us first and then seeing him was the cherry on top."

Grover has since been turned over to the care of Sit with Me, a local, non-profit rescue. The group will help Grover recovery and eventually find him a forever home.

"We do basically A to X," said Ashley Ladouceur, a board member with Sit With Me Rescue. "We want to make sure that he is healthy and happy, and we want to get to know him too. We want to make sure that we put him in a home that can handle him."

Ladouceur says it wil probably be between three and six months before Grover is ready for adoption. The group has setup a funding page to help offset the costs of his recovery. Any additional money raised will be put towards the costs of helping roughly 140 other dogs find forever homes.

"He was an unexpected emergency and we know those happen all the time, but we ask people to help in the community because this dog came from our community and we know people will want to help out with that as well," she said. "We know how much 24 hours will cost us, but we don't know how much time he will need."

If you find yourself in a position where you can no longer take care of a pet the Ottawa Humane Society says their doors are alwasy open.

"We are an open admission shelter, so you can always bring an animal to us," said Allie Holloway with OHS. "There will be some questions because it's better for us when we know all about the animal, including its behaviour, what they are used to eating, and their medical history as that makes it easier for us to find a suitable forever home for them."

The rescue says it has opened a case with the Ontario SPCA as well as Ottawa Police.