November 14, 2008

Ruby Roo, a Chihuahua, was born without two front legs, now with the help of Guardian Angel Fund, she has a pair of wheels to help her get around. (Pet Pulse Photo by John McQuiston, Design by Tim Mattson)

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Ruby Roo still seems confused by the metal-and-plastic contraption on wheels. Sitting inside it, the 5-month-old Chihuahua pushes herself forward with a few tentative steps and looks at her owner, Joel Hunter.

Her expression seems to say, "get me out of this thing so I can move!"

"She doesn't know she's disabled," Hunter said. "She hops all over the place like a rabbit."

Her unusual locomotion is not about showing off. Born with only nubs for front legs, it's the closest she comes to walking.

Hence the metal-and-plastic contraption.

It's a custom made cart that serves as the canine equivalent of a wheelchair. Once Ruby Roo masters it, she'll be able to engage in a dog's favorite pastime.

"She wants to chase other dogs," said Hunter. "And hasn't been able to do that."

Ruby Roo came to the Lakeland SPCA shortly after she was born. Her original owner surrendered her fearing he couldn't care for a handicapped dog.

"We knew there was no reason she couldn't live and find a home," said Lakeland SPCA Interim Executive Director Warren Cox.

An SPCA program called the Guardian Angel Fund for animals with medical problems would even pay the roughly $450 for a custom made cart if a suitable home could be found.

Enter Joel Hunter.

Already active in animal rescue -- "I have a three-legged dog, two that are blind, one's deaf" -- he was intrigued when he saw Roo's picture on the Lakeland SPCA's Web site, LoveMyspca.com.

When they met, Hunter saw, a "very feisty, small dog with a big heart."

Her name at the time was simply Roo, as in kangaroo. Hunter added Ruby. This is the south, after all, and Hunter says it's natural for southern females regardless of species to have two first names.

Once the owner match was made, the Lakeland SPCA sent Ruby Roo's measurements to K-9 Carts. All carts are custom made but Roo's was particularly unusual. The company says it makes an average of 100 carts a month. Only one or two are for strictly front limb impaired dogs.

Two weeks later, the finished cart came back to Lakeland. Hunter and and the SPCA staff were told not to expect a dramatic scene in which Ruby Roo realizes her newfound freedom and runs excitedly around the room the first time she got into the cart. Good thing.

"She just wanted to sit in it and didn't want to move," Hunter says.

K-9 Carts warned that it would take Ruby Roo a month to acclimate to her new device and recommended that she spend two 10-minute periods a day learning how to use it.

"She's got to learn how to walk again, really," said Cox. "This is all new to her."

Instead of pushing with both legs at the same time as she has done until now, she'll have to learn how to walk like, well, a dog.

The cart is adjustable enough to account for any growing Ruby Roo does. Steering the cart gives her the most problems.

Hunter says that even when she gains a command of the device, she won't spend all her time in it. But she will enjoy more normal mobility and she'll get to chase her playmates on more equal footing.

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