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Princeton puppy makes comeback after fire

Bluefield Daily Telegraph photo by Eric DiNovo Dr. Gary Brown turns Roscoe over to his owner Walter Nance at the Animal Care Center in Princeton Monday.
Bluefield Daily Telegraph photo by Eric DiNovo
Dr. Gary Brown turns Roscoe over to his owner Walter Nance at the Animal Care Center in Princeton Monday.

PRINCETON, W.Va. — At first, it seemed everyone escaped when a fire destroyed a on Halls Ridge Road home, but Walter Nance quickly realized somebody was missing – Roscoe, his 10-week-old puppy.

Nance, 24, couldn’t search for Roscoe right away after his residence burned Oct. 13; firefighters would not let him back inside the burned mobile home due to hot spots. When he could search, he found the mixed-breed pup hiding behind a couch near a window. And he was still alive.

“He was in the mobile home the whole time it burned,” Nance said when he arrived at Animal Care Center PLLC in Princeton to take Roscoe home.

Personnel at the animal clinic had grown attached to him.

“You’re not taking him home, are you?” Office Manager Pam Fleeman asked when Nance arrived.

Roscoe, who is 75 percent pit bull, had severe burns on several parts of his body and hind feet, and lost a third of his tail, Gary S. Brown, DVM said. Melted plastic had dripped on him, and both eyes had cornea damage; the left eye had the worst injury, but the right eye was nearly healed. The left eye will require additional surgery.

Another injury Roscoe has been dealing with is severe smoke inhalation..

“He had very, very great difficulty breathing,” Brown recalled as Nance held Roscoe. “It was not just smoke. It was hot smoke. He was on oxygen four and a half days…

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