Surgery needed after pitbull encounter

Another dog has been injured by a pitbull and now a Kelowna family is grasping at straws trying to find the money to get surgery for their dog.

Last Tuesday, Alex Russell let her two Shih-Tzus out into her backyard on Millard Court East in Kelowna. She didn't realize that his neighbour had also let his two pitbulls out into his half of the shared yard.

“We live in a duplex and there is fence running down the middle of the yard. I had just let Ana out and went back inside. Moments later I heard her screaming, I ran back out and she was in the jaws of Bella, the female pitbull, who had pushed her head through the bottom part of the fence and grabbed Ana,” says Russell.

She says he yelled at Bella and got Ana away from her, but the incident left the small dog with a jaw broken in two places.

“I don't understand why this happened. The dogs have never been aggressive to each other before. They sniff at each other through the fence.”

Russell, who is currently on CPP disability after being diagnosed with cancer last December says they don't have the $2,000 the vet says it will cost to fix Ana's jaw.

“She's such a little trooper, but she's in pain. She cries when she moves her jaw the wrong way. We've got her on pain medication, but it needs to be fixed. I've called other vets to see if they have programs that help pay for operations in this sort of situation, but have had no luck. Bella's owner has refused to help with the vet costs and small claims court won't get us anywhere. So I'm hoping that maybe members of the public can help us.”

She says as a result of the incident, Bella has been declared an aggressive dog by Animal Control.

“There are restrictions that her owner has to comply with within the next two weeks. I believe they include that she has to be on a leash whenever she's not in their home and when she's in the yard she has to be in a pen which meets certain requirements.”

Russell says following the incident her landlord, (who is not the dog's owner) built a wooden fence to replace the chain link one that was in the yard and has found an appropriate pen for Bella to be in when she is outside.

This incident is the second one this month in which a pitbull has injured another dog. On October 15, three pitbulls attacked a neighbour's dog in the 3000 block of Elliot Road in West Kelowna.

Those three dogs were seized by Bylaw. Two of the three pitbulls involved in that attack were destroyed.

Anyone wishing to help Russell pay for Ana's surgery can call Okanagan Veterinary Hospital at (250)765-5132.