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Nemo - Changing the Reputation of Pit Bulls...

Who Rescued Who????

"Finding Nemo"

We purchased a pure bred Jack Russell puppy in April of 2004, named her Dory, and absolutely fell in love with her and the breed. We planned to breed her when she turned two.

By February of 2005, we just could not wait any longer to have a companion for Dory, and to have another Jack Russell. There was just not enough of Dory to go around. So, I went on Petfinder.com and started looking for a Jack Russell Puppy to adopt. I felt that it was the "right" thing to do, since there are so many animals that need rescuing. We were turned down by several rescue groups because Dory was not spayed yet. I tried telling people that we had every intention of spaying Dory as soon as we had another dog. Most places said that they certainly couldn't trust me since I was looking for a male Jack Russell, even though I gave them a list of 8 references... including a dog trainer and my vet!

Luckily I found Kathy Skinner, who had 5 Jack Russell Mix puppies for adoption. The entire litter was thrown to the side of the road at the age of 4 weeks old, and were brought to Kathy Skinner's rescue. I contacted Kathy and asked her if she would consider adopting one of the puppies to New Hampshire... and she said absolutely. She approved my application, called my references, and TRUSTED me that I was going to get both dogs fixed by the time the puppy was 6 months old.
So, after about one hundred emails and a few phone calls... Nemo flew into Logan Airport to join our family on February 18. He only weighed 5 pounds and was happy and friendly as soon as we took him out of the crate!

By the middle of March, we realized that Nemo was definitely NOT a Jack Russell mix... but a pure bred PIT BULL! He was growing like crazy (gaining 2.5 - 5 pounds a WEEK!), and didn't look at all like a Jack Russell.

We would have never looked to adopt a Pit Bull, because we didn't want a big dog and the vet told us that he was on target for becomming a 60 pound dog - woah! But we had already fallen in love with Nemo, so sending him back wasn't an option! Nemo was learning so fast and had become such an awesome part of our family.

Fast forward to April 21, 2005... it was time for the dogs to get spayed and neutered. I dropped the two dogs to the vet before heading to work....the vet called me right after I got to work. (Never a good sign!)

The vet informed me that Dory was showing signs of a dangerous uterine infection. They said that it is a good thing that she is being spayed today, because if she did have this infection... it would have killed her in a few months!!! As it is... the surgery could be more tricky.... and dangerous... and more expensive. The only cure to this infection is to spay her. Even if we waited a few months... she would have gotten really sick and the surgery would have been an emergency and extremely dangerous. The vet said that when the infection gets bad enough to make the dog sick that they have to do an emergency spaying, or euthanize.

I called my husband, since Dory is his dog, as soon as I found out.... and he was very worried and upset.

The vet told me to call back around 3:30 p.m. to see how things went. Let me tell you, the day dragged like crazy!

So... if Dory did have this infection (that just happens, and is not caused by anything specific)... she would have NEVER been able to have puppies anyways. So, THANK GOD we got Nemo. Without Nemo, we would have put Dory's spaying off for a few months, or we would have bred her in March of 2006. And most likely she would have died before we had time to breed her.

At 3:30 p.m. on the dot... I called the Vet... Dory made it through surgery just FINE! They believe that she was just starting with the infection... so thank GOD we had the surgery done when we did!

Nemo came to us for a reason!!! To RESCUE Dory's life! Which is pretty darn weird... since I thought that Nemo was the one that needed RESCUING!

I don't usually believe that "everything happens for a reason" saying... but now I do!

OH.. Yeah... one other thing... Nemo is now 25 pounds!!!! UGH! He has gained 10 pounds in a month.