bporterfield@pvdemocrat.com —
Stories about man’s best friend seem to be popping up all over the place as yet another one here in Garvin County involves a severely injured dog that seemed to miraculously survive.
One came earlier this month when a hurt dog was found by a Pauls Valley brother and sister.
The find resulted in the dog getting some very specialized and expensive surgery as a donation drive is continuing at the local Reavis Drug store as the dog appears on the road to recovery.
Now a Pauls Valley veterinarian is among those amazed a Stratford area dog survived after being locked in a trap for 10 days without any food or water.
The dog is called Rebel, a Redbone hound about 11 months old.
His owners are Stratford area residents Jim and Connie Armstrong.
Earlier this week the Armstrong’s were able to bring Rebel home after his ordeal, which included five days of hospitalization.
“It almost starved together,” said Dr. Carolyn Williams of the Williamsburg Small Animal Hospital in Pauls Valley.
“I don’t know how it survived.”
Williams said the dog got caught in a coyote snare trap as a loop on the trap went around the dog’s front leg and shoulder.
She described the wound as down to the bone with tissue that was essentially sawed by the trap.
It was Connie Armstrong who said Rebel came up missing back on Jan. 9.
Several days later her husband Jim saw some cows grouped together on the property of a family member so he went over to check it out.
He found the severely injured family dog in the trap and hidden away in some tall grass.
“He was in bad shape, nearly dead,” Connie said. “My husband thought we would have to put him down.
“He would have died if he’d been there another 12 hours. He was barely conscious, but he could lift his head when he heard my son’s voice,” she said.
“He’s got a long way to go, but he is up walking, he is wagging his tail and he’s just glad to be home.
“He’s definitely a trooper.”
Rebel is expected to receive more treatment over the next few weeks on his road to recovery.
As for the trap catching Rebel, Armstrong said someone unknown person placed it on property belonging to her sister.
“We don’t know who it was that set the trap, and there was another trap not too far from it,” she said.
From a veterinarian’s perspective Williams is also critical no one came back to check the traps, even if they were placed on someone else’s property.
“People who set those traps are supposed to check them every day or every other day,” Williams said.
“That way if something gets caught they can release them so they won’t have to suffer.”
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