Dog trapped for week next to dead owner

Published on 09/08/2012 01:28

A DEVOTED pet dog is battling for his life after being trapped 
in a remote cottage for more than a week beside the body of his elderly owner.

Jack, a Jack Russell cross, was found starving, dehydrated and badly emaciated by officers from Tayside Police after they were called to the remote house at Kinnell, near Arbroath in Angus.

The faithful pet, which had gone without food or water for days, was lying close to the body of his owner, a retired nurse in her 70s, who is thought to have died after collapsing in the kitchen.

Jack was rushed to a veterinary surgery in Arbroath for 
intensive treatment and is now slowly recovering at the Arbroath home of Ian Robb, who runs a charity for abandoned animals.

Mr Robb, the chairman of Help for Abandoned Animals, said yesterday that the dog’s chances of making a full recovery were still only 50-50.

He said: “It’s so sad to think the lady may have been lying there for days with Jack at her side. Nobody knows how long she was dead before she was 
discovered, but it could have been for up to eight days.

“Jack was with her all that time and you have no idea the state the poor wee lad is in. I have been involved with dog rescues most of my life and this is the worst state I have ever seen a dog in. He was in a horrendous condition and was badly emaciated and dehydrated.”

He explained that Jack had first come into the care of the charity five years ago before 
becoming the pet of the elderly lady who died. The pensioner cannot be identified, as next 
of kin in Ireland have still to be informed of her death.

Mr Robb said: “She was a wonderful lady who just loved the animals. After she retired from nursing, the lady used to foster dogs for us, and about four and a half years ago she decided she wanted to have her own pet for the later years of her life.

“We found Jack for her and she absolutely adored him. He was an abandoned dog and she fell in love with him, and he loved his owner as much as she loved him.”