A Shar pei whose life hung in the balance after falling from a fourth-floor – breaking her pelvis and puncturing her lung – is now loving life in her new home after her miraculous survival.
RSPCA inspector Justin Stubbs was on call in Bedfordshire when he was called to a local vets to help eight-month-old Shar pei Kia. The young dog had been rushed into the surgery having fallen from a fourth-floor window; but vets needed her owner’s permission to treat her.
Justin said: “We’ve just spoken to the owner in the flat, which was indeed four floors. He wasn’t monitoring the dog at the time, he thought she was upstairs at the balcony in a cage but, between us all, it appears that she may have somehow got onto the balcony ledge, chewed a bit of the netting and fallen through.”
The battle to save Kia’s life features on tonight’s (Tuesday 20 July) latest episode of Channel 5’s The Dog Rescuers, airing at 7pm.
Kia needed x-rays and life-saving treatment for a broken pelvis and punctured lung. But, when she took a turn for the worst and had difficulty breathing, it was touch-and-go whether the poor dog would survive.
She was rushed into surgery where vets placed a tube in her chest cavity to remove trapped air. Her oxygen levels dropped drastically low but the experts battled to save her and finally managed to inflate her lung.
Kia was moved to the RSPCA’s Harmsworth Hospital for round-the-clock monitoring and care. Vet Anna Spasojevic explained: “An x-ray of the pelvis showed a fracture in the ilium, the upper wing of the pelvis. Thankfully there’s no need for surgery and this will all heal with time.”
Staff were concerned her fall may have damaged her spine or nerves and affect her mobility so they were thrilled when she started to walk well on her own. Vet Anna added: “She’s been very lucky.”
Kia was eventually signed over by her owner and adopted by Sarah and Nathaniel Maples, and their son Aaron, from Leicestershire.
Nathaniel said: “We were looking online at different rescue centres and we ended up coming across Kia, Sarah was pretty much sold as soon as she met her. And we just both fell in love with her. I remember the first thing we thought about was those big old chubby cheeks, she looked like a hippopotamus. In a nice way, a cute hippopotamus! She is really relaxed, friendly and cuddle so we just poured loads of love on her. She loves a cuddle with Aaron when he comes home from school; they both sit on the couch and she goes up and leans on him.
“It’s amazing when you rescue a dog because you get to see them completely transform. You would never know she fell down a four-story building and broke her pelvis. She runs around and jumps around so it’s a really good feeling to watch the transformation.”
