Meet Ruger. He wandered into a Greenville, Tennessee woman’s garage in late November and collapsed. The severely emaciated dog was on his last legs and would not have survived the night if the kind-hearted woman hadn’t acted quickly and contacted Bright Hope Animal Rescue for help.
Bright Hope Animal Rescue
Jason and Amanda Hopson, who run the rescue, immediately drove out and took Ruger home. Over the next few hours it was touch-and-go. They even thought he had died at one point.
“He was cold, he was almost hard, just petting a skeleton with hair on it,” Jason Hopson told WBIR News at the time.
Bright Hope Animal Rescue
In the middle of the night, they rushed him to the Animal Medical Center of Greeneville and tests revealed he was beginning to bloat. Emergency surgery would need to be performed, but doctors gave him just a 20% chance of surviving given his condition.
Bright Hope Animal Rescue
Miraculously, he pulled through. The Great Dane mix’s biggest hurdle after his surgery is to gain weight. When the Hopson’s took him home he weighed just 48 pounds. After a stay in ICU and some mild meals, he began gaining weight and put on 5 pounds. But more importantly, a spark is coming back into his eyes.
The Hopsons posted on Ruger’s progress a month later on the Bright Hope Animal Rescue Facebook page:
Bright Hope Animal Rescue
“His hair is shiny. He is starting to get some muscle back. His front ribs are disappearing. His body is surviving on food and not consuming itself. This is all with only a 5 pound weight gain. I absolutely cannot wait to see what the next 5 pounds will do. This would simply not have been remotely possible without everyone’s support. Because of you all we are able to provide him with the best care possible for as long as he needs it.”
Bright Hope Animal Rescue
“He spends his days walking around the vet clinic building muscle, enjoying head scratches, and all the healthy food he needs. He walks when he wants and then takes a nap and then goes back to work walking and building those muscles. He will disappear and you can call “Ruger” and he will come wandering out of a random room he has been exploring.”
Bright Hope Animal Rescue
“I know this is anything but a normal case for Animal Medical Center of Greeneville, but I cannot even begin to express the gratitude we have for the Doctors and staff. They have essentially allowed Ruger to “move” in and live there until they feel he is stable enough to move into foster care. He still has a long road, but he sure is happy in his temporary home.”