Dog News

UPDATE: Rest in Peace Ruger

by Katherine

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On Sunday we gave up an update on Ruger, the Great Dane mix from Greeneville, Tenn., found this past November in a garage. After weeks of care and the heart-breaking diagnosis of a pituitary gland tumor, many hoped a miracle will help Ruger live a few more weeks, yet this did not happen. It is with a heavy heart that we inform you Ruger was humanly put to sleep yesterday.

Rest in peace Ruger. Photo Credit: Bright Home Animal Rescue/ Facebook
Rest in peace Ruger. Photo Credit: Bright Home Animal Rescue/ Facebook

 

Amanda and Jason Hopson, founders of Bright Home Animal Rescued, hoped to nurse the abandoned and abused dog back to health, but after discovering his tumor and learning that the dog was too weak to withstand radiation treatment they made the hard decision to bring Ruger back home and allow him to live the rest of his days pain free and surrounded by love.

At first Ruger seemed happy and healthy enough to enjoy a few more days if not weeks with the Hopsons. The dog was playing and eating, but a day after coming home, the dog deteriorated and stopped eating once again.

Yesterday, rescuers made the difficult decision to let Ruger go and humanly put him to sleep.

“I am fighting through the tears to find the words for this post,” said Bright Home Animal Rescue on their Facebook wall. ” We had to make the difficult decision to let our precious Ruger go to heaven today. He passed in Jason’s arms surround by all his family at the vet clinic. He fought like hell to live. But today, he let us know he was ready. He may have not gotten the happy ending that we were praying for, but he didn’t die alone on that cold November night.”

The organization knows that Ruger’s struggles were not in vain. The dog brought a community together and brought to light the truth about animal abuse and neglect. Many think animal abuse only happens in ASPCA commercials, but Ruger became the face of abuse in a community that believed abused didn’t happen near home.

Bright Home Animal Rescue wants to honor Ruger’s memory and they plan to help many more pets in need.