The heroic 18-month-old Golden Retriever was expected to be released Tuesday but Sherry Forman, the boy’s mother, said the vet wanted to keep her overnight for observation. She said during surgery they also discovered Angel had a heart murmur.
Forman said her children, Austin and Holly, are being kept away from Angel over concerns she may get too excited. When Angel is released Wednesday she will go stay with a family friend for at least four days.
“She had pretty serious injuries and they discovered a congenital heart murmur that we didn’t know she had. So [the vet] just wanted to keep her calm,”
Angel’s vet said they would monitor the heart murmur but that he didn’t want to comment further at this stage.
“It may mean nothing,” said Dr. Jack Anvik, owner of the Sardis Animal Hospital in Chilliwack.
“It is just an abnormal sound. I don’t think we should make anything of this yet. There are a lot of people who have irregular hearts. The presence of a murmur may be incidental.”
Anvik said he is keeping her overnight because she has had major surgery to her skull and there is drainage from the wound that has to be attended.
Angel underwent an hour and a half of surgery to repair a fractured skull and puncture wounds.
The family expects the bill will be steep, but Forman said there has been a lot of family support.
Several people also called the vet directly and offered donations, she said.
“All we care about is getting our Angel well and getting her home. We just think one way or another it will all work out.”
The dog has been recovering since the attack Saturday when she leapt through the air to protect Austin Forman from coming into contact with the cougar.
Angel was then pulled under a patio before an RCMP officer shot and killed the big cat.
When Austin and his father dragged Angel from under the porch she wasn’t breathing. But she came around and began to drag herself through the snow. The first thing the dog did was check to see if Austin was okay.
Meanwhile Tuesday, the RCMP officer who shot and killed the cougar and saved the dog's life received recognition for his efforts in Boston Bar in front of an international cache of media. RCMP spokesman Sgt. Peter Thiessen said American media organizations CNN, Inside Edition and the Today Show were there to cover the story.
RCMP Const. Chad Gravelle, who fired several shots at the cat, was presented with a medal.
Thiessen added that Const. Gravelle and his wife are expecting a baby boy and plan to name him Austin.
Also Tuesday, conservation officers were preparing to ship two dead cougars to Victoria for necropsies in another case of a cougar attack on a child in B.C. in one week.
Conservation officer Gary Van Spengen said officials will look for any diseases or injuries the animals may have had that could have made them desperate for easy prey.
“They are a true predator and a true carnivore so normally if they attack people they are looking at the person as prey,” he said, adding the cougar may have been looking for food to feed her young.
Seven-year-old Davie Metzler Jr. was mauled by a cougar on New Year’s Eve as he was tobogganing with his sister near Burns Lake in northern B.C.
The cougar pulled the child to the ground and had its mouth on his head. Davie’s mother fended off the cat by swatting it with a rag before rushing her son to hospital where he received 22 stitches to his head.
Conservation officers tracked and killed two cougars the following day.
story curtosy of: ticrawford@vancouversun.com
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