Dog Gets Lost in Fells, Survives Hit-and-Run and Freezing Night in Cemetery

The following was submitted by Rob Halpin on behalf of Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston:

Tessie, a six-year-old Boston Terrier, proved that cats aren’t the only animals with nine lives after surviving being hit by a car and a shivering night in a cemetery. 

Tessie was with her dog walker on a hike through Middlesex Fells in Medford on Jan. 6 when she got separated and ended up lost, wandering through the streets of Medford. Scared by the traffic and the unfamiliar sights and sounds, she panicked and began to run. Passersby tried to get hold of her but to no avail; she ultimately was struck by a car in a hit-and-run accident and scampered away.

When Tessie’s owner, Kathy Noons of South Boston, heard that her dog had gone missing, she headed to Medford to help  search for her beloved pet.  She and her husband drove to Medford and began scouring the city, looking for any sign of Tessie.

Noons’s friend, Charlotte Ritson, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, issued an alert over the Postal Service newswire.  This proved to be the critical break in the as Tessie was found the next day in the cemetery by a postal worker.

Noons rushed Tessie—who was in severe pain with a body temperature that had dropped 15 degrees—to Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, where she was admitted to the Emergency/Critical Care Unit.

Tessie’s heart rate was very low, she was minimally responsive and had no readable blood pressure.  Further tests revealed  every bone in Tessie’s pelvis was broken in multiple places.  She would require immediate surgery if she were to survive.

Despite the trauma she’d already endured, Tessie pulled through and impressed the doctors with her fighting spirit and will to live.

Along with the surgery, Tessie received “cold” laser therapy and acupuncture—two techniques pioneered at Angell.  But she isn't out of the woods yet - as her recovery unfolds Tessie will graduate to full physical therapy and hydrotherapy.

“I’m so grateful for the medical staff at Angell Animal Medical Center who treated Tessie as if she were one of their own,” Noons said.  “This whole experience has been extremely difficult for Tessie and for us—but knowing that she has received, and will continue to receive, the best possible veterinary care gives me hope that she will return to the fun and feisty dog that we know and love.”