Safely in the arms of owner Jamie McAllister, Rupert is the center of attention among his family and members of the UF Small Animal Hospital.
A young dachshund named Rupert who was run over by a golf cart in Ocala is living a charmed life after being resuscitated three times by
University of Florida veterinarians.
Rupert was discharged in February from UF’s Small Animal Hospital after being treated for eight days in the hospital’s intensive care unit. His owner, Jamie McAllister, who lives in Michigan but travels back and forth to Ocala during the winter months, could not be happier.
“To say Rupert is a miracle is an understatement,” McAllister said. “If it weren’t for the doctors and staff at UF, I don’t know where we would be.”
McAllister said Rupert jumped off a friend’s golf cart while she was driving and rolled under one of the vehicle’s tires. She immediately took him to her veterinarian, who advised her that Rupert should be taken to the UF Small Animal Hospital due to the severity of his injuries.
“His veterinarian called me in Gainesville to say Rupert’s family wanted to bring him to UF for treatment of severe pulmonary contusions, but he was not stable enough for transport,” said Ashley Allen, D.V.M., a clinical assistant professor of emergency and critical care at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine.
“So we teamed up: Dr. Gareth Buckley took over the intensive care unit, and Dr. Jennifer Martinez, student Denae Campanele and I loaded up the van we use to transport patients on oxygen, and drove to Ocala to get Rupert,” she explained.
The group headed to the Town & Country Animal Hospital, where Rupert went into cardiac arrest soon after they arrived. His heart had stopped beating due to internal bleeding and depletion of oxygen, the doctors said.
“We performed CPR and got him back, but he proceeded to code two more times in the hour we spent there trying to get him stable enough for transport,” Allen said. “We brought him to UF by using the transport ventilator, as he was unable to maintain oxygenation on his own, and he stayed on a ventilator for five days.”
Rupert had a severe lung injury, but he gradually
improved and was taken off the ventilator.
“He died three times, and the second and third time, the veterinarians called me to tell me he wasn’t going to make it,” said McAllister. “Then, they called right back to say he was alive and had a strong heartbeat.”
The veterinarians asked McAllister if she wanted them to continue to work on Rupert, she said. McAllister said she was not ready to give up on her pet.
“I thought he was fighting so hard, we needed to give him every chance possible,” she said.
McAllister was told Rupert had a 20 percent chance of survival once he was taken off the ventilator. She was able to visit him once he was removed from the machine.
“When I put my head next to him, he actually stood up and started licking my face,” she said. “It was amazing. Every day thereafter, he just got stronger and stronger until I could finally take him home.”
