On June 27, 2003, at about 9 months of age, our rat terrier Yodi (12 pounds) was attacked by a loose pit bull that ran onto my parents' property just as my husband and I got out of the car. Yodi was on a leash, the pit bull was not. The pit bull grabbed Yodi in his mouth and was shaking him around; at one point it looked as if he had Yodi on the ground and was standing on him, trying to hold him still and bite him. My husband and I were frantic - screaming and yelling for help. Without thinking, I stood over top of the pit bull, grabbed him by the collar, and attempted to pull him away from Yodi. I think I ended up squeezing off the pit's air supply, because he made a choking/gagging sound and basically spit Yodi out. My husband grabbed Yodi and ran into my parents' house. We were afraid Yodi was going to be dead on the spot. That was the most terrifying, horrific thing I've ever experienced.

Yodi had to have surgery at an emergency vet to repair several tears and bite wounds on his chest. A few days after that surgery, we brought him to our vet in Sarasota, who kept him for a few weeks for observation, pain control, and a few procedures. Yodi was very weak and tired and when we went to visit him, he was often just laying down; he could hardly move around and sometimes could barely lift his head. Yodi's red blood cell count dropped severely so he received a blood transfusion from one of the technician's dogs, a Weimaraner. (He got big doggie blood, which helped him feel a lot better.) Yodi's left front leg was swollen due to trauma and the vets applied heat and massaged it in hopes of getting the swelling to go down. A large patch of skin/tissue was dying on his chest (where he had been bitten) and he had to have surgery to remove the decaying tissue. Days later, we learned that his left front leg still wasn't doing much better and we were referred to an animal hospital in Tampa. We took him up there for a consultation and learned that the tissue in the leg was dying, which was sending toxins into Yodi's body; the toxins were making him sick and weak and were entering his body too fast for his body to be able to fight them and heal himself. This left us with the decision to either amputate the leg and save Yodi's life, or let our little puppy go. The obvious decision to us was to amputate the leg. We didn't have second thoughts about it. The amputation was done on July 10th. We couldn't believe it when the vet called and told us that Yodi was sitting up in his cage and had even walked outside - all by himself - to go to the bathroom. We saw him two days after the surgery, and we were allowed to take him outside for a walk. We couldn't believe how well he was getting around. Especially because the last time we saw him before the surgery, he coud barely lift his head. We saw him a second time, about a week later, and he was actually gobbling up his treats, giving lots of kisses, and running and jumping on and off the sidewalk. His final procedure, a skin flap (skin graft) was done on July 21st to cover the large patch where the tissue on his chest had died and been removed. The day after that, July 22nd, he came home with us.

That was over 6 years ago. Yodi gets around great today... It amazes me at how well he manages. He is super fast, playful, and energetic. Missing a leg hasn't slowed him down one bit.

He's got a blog... http://lovemytr.....gspot.com/ Check it out!