Abandoned and Deformed Puppy Defies Veterinarians, Learns to Walk
Born with pectus excavatum—a debilitating disease that causes puppies to lie on their chests with their legs out wide—Harper, an 11-week old pit bull, has shocked veterinarians in Florida by overcoming the usually deadly malady to walk for the first time.
It isn’t the first time in her young life the puppy has cheated certain death.
This past summer, when she was just days old, Harper was abandoned in a trash bag on the side of a sultry hot, Florida road.
Miraculously, animal enthusiast Erica Daniel found the scrappy gray pooch and took her to a nearby shelter.
There, she was diagnosed with ‘swimmer puppy disorder', a death sentence for most canines. Veterinarians decided that the best course of action was euthanasia.
“I’d planned on taking her home that night, letting her sleep in bed with us, and having her humanely euthanized in the morning,” said Daniel, to NBC’s Today Show.
In the morning, a strange thing happened: Harper’s survival instinct took over and she tried to walk on her own.
Daniel pumped the breaks on putting Harper to sleep and decided to nurse her back to health on the off chance that the pup might someday be able to walk and thrive.
The Today Show picks up the remarkable survivor story from there.
Comments