Success
Stories! Amazing
tales of survival, recovery, and medical triumphsClick here for the Success Stories Archive Baby the Jack RussellI recently had a litter of Jack Russell Terrier (JRT) puppies, my Nina had a litter of 4, born in my bedroom between 11:32pm and 1:23am, all were very healthy and good looking pups. At about 3 weeks of age, my son (5yr) was helping take care of them and their whelping box, and he stepped on one of the female tri's, we named her Katie. She yelped, and then seemed fine, but I had an appointment with our Vet anyway that day so I had Dr. Yoder check her out, we didn't see any problems at that time. A short time later, after all the rest of the litter started to "Get around" poor Katie just couldn't seem to do it. I called Dr. Yoder, and she said bring her right down and we check the little girl out. Once down there she still couldn't fine anything abnormal! We concluded she was just the runt and was slow in the motor development. I gave her another two weeks, after still making no real attempt to get up and walk, I started "Aqua-Therapy" with her in my bath tub, I filled the tub just to her shoulder and then helped her around. She was swimming, she liked it, and she used her weak rear legs. After about 3 weeks of this, 3 times a day, she got up and walked a few steps. It wasn't much but it was one of the happiest days of everyone involved with this little cutie! Now, she is 12 weeks old and running around, being a typical JR, chasing her brother and causing all kinds of trouble. I had her checked again about a week ago and we found out what was wrong, when Andy stepped on her, he "cracked" her femur slightly enough to make her not want to use it, we were able to see the thickness on the site as the bone was healing with another x-ray. All in all I spent about $500.00 on this little bundle of trouble b/c I just wouldn't give up on her. I had several people contact me wanting to buy her, but she is my Grand-fathers best buddy, he rocks her to sleep every night! (nope she not spoiled at all. Yea, sure!) I do want to say one more thing concerning JRs, they are a very demanding terrier and allot of people buy them thinking that they are not as much work as they actually are. Most are abandoned before they even reach adulthood, its very sad. Everyone who was a prospective buyer had to read a pamphlet made by the JRTCA, "Bad Dog Talk" this depicts the worse scenario of "being owned by a JR." I had many people say that they were not sure they wanted a breed such as this, and I said I am very glad they admitted it and sent them on to our kennel club to find a breed that would fit them best.
More from your
Guide: Have something to say? Post it on the board!
Previous Features - Check out other articles from your Guide Veterinary Medicine Home Page - Main page for VetMed at About.com Library of Topics - Browse the site library of topics |
