TOMBALL, TX: Thomas Tyree, LSC-Tomball officer, would have never heard the faint cries for help if he had been doing his usual car patrol of the LSC-Tomball campus.
“I was walking on the west side of the college, near the Vet Tech building, and I could barely hear the tiny cries,” said Tyree. “I started looking around, and there he was, curled up in the dirt, a little nothing puppy. He was sitting in ants, with wasps and flies swarming him. I could tell the dog was badly hurt.”
Tyree gave the injured pup some water and went inside the Veterinary Technology (Vet Tech) building to ask for help. Sarah Ferguson, LSC-Tomball Veterinary Technology staff assistant, immediately rushed outside to pick up the hurt pup.
Normally, the Vet Tech program does not treat animals in this condition, but on this day, the entire Vet Tech team, students, staff, and professors dropped what they were doing and jumped to action. They cleaned up the puppy and took full body x-rays. The pup was covered head to toe with road rash and the x-rays revealed three broken legs.
“The dog’s injuries were worse than I thought,” said Dr. MacFarlane (Dr. Mac.), LSC-Tomball Veterinary Program veterinarian. “We had two options. We could put him down because his pain and injuries were so severe, or we could attempt to fix him. But even if we did attempt to help him, there was no guarantee he would ultimately have a good quality of life. It was a tough decision, but everyone agreed, we had to at least try.”
The next time Tyree saw the pup, he was unconscious due to the pain medication and three of his legs were in casts. “It was touch and go for about 48 hours," said Ferguson. “Dr. Mac. wasn’t sure the pup was going to make it.”
After several days of recovery, the puppy’s condition slowly improved. “He became sort of our little mascot,” said Ferguson. “Word got around campus, and people were calling and emailing to find out about his condition.”
Jeff Gruber, an LSC-Tomball Vet Tech student, who was there the day the puppy came in, eventually adopted the little guy. “Legoless runs and plays like he never had any problems with his legs,” said Gruber. “He is truly a happy puppy, well behaved, and very active. Thanks to the amazing LSC-Tomball community that rallied together to help him, Legoless is doing great.”
###