Gauge

Gauge’s Story aired on WCCO on 02/13/2013

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — A Twin Cities dog owner calls her best friend a “miracle.”

Once a runner, it’s now amazing 3-year-old Gauge can even walk. What’s more incredible is that he’s even alive.

“The last thing I heard them say was he barely has a heartbeat,” owner Betsy Strachota said.

A month ago, Strachota brought Gauge to work when she had to go in for extra hours on a Saturday.

“We have a rooftop deck on our offices,” Strachota said. “When I let him out to go to the bathroom, he looked across the roof and it looked like it continued. He couldn’t see it dropped off, and he jumped.”

He fell five stories.

Veterinarians at the University of Minnesota were worried he would pass away at any moment. They used new imaging technology to see what was going wrong inside Gauge’s body.

A regular X-ray showed a fracture, but the university’s new 3-D CT scan gave the surgical team a much more in-depth picture.

It only takes six seconds to get the image and instantly doctors could see Gauge’s hip had shattered. After stopping his internal bleeding, they went to work in the operating room.

Gauge made it through the second operation, and now is in rehab.

Strachota hopes Gauge can one day run with her again — he has two dozen therapy sessions lined up and then doctors will decide if he needs more surgery.

His treatment hasn’t been cheap; Strachota says most dog owners would agree it’s worth it.

Comments from his owner on the VMC Facebook page on 02/14/2013:
“The VMC is truly amazing. The doctors are so genuinely caring and as I’ve learned – the technology is lifesaving! I was going to write a "My VMC Story" but I think WCCO did a better job than I would have!!”