Story of survival: Family dog survives in wild 13 days after being hit by a car
It was eight days before Christmas, and for members of the Jackson family, Dec. 17, 2023, was a night they wanted to forget.
Their 5-year-old family dog, Keats, a Newfoundland breed, was at a family friend's house off Ridge Road in Hendersonville when he wandered off, Lori Jackson of Hendersonville told the Times-News on Jan. 8.
"At 8:11 p.m., he just ran off. We thought he would just come right back, but he didn’t, so several of us were looking for him, calling his name, driving up and down multiple streets with no luck of seeing him. He is dark and it was pitch black out. … I felt helpless, like looking for a needle in a haystack," she said.
That night, the temperature dropped to 38 degrees. Jackson said she panicked, worrying about how Keats could survive through the cold night, since he was an indoor dog.
"Keats has always been an inside dog from Day 1 … only going out for potty breaks and multiple walks daily," she said. "I just prayed and prayed for him to be OK. I began posting immediately to social media, trying to get anyone and everyone to share, especially if they knew anyone in the specific area to be looking for him."
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Lori's son, Gabe, said a terrible thought went through his mind during the search.
"When I heard he went missing my first thought was how late it was, and with him being as dark as he is, I was worried we wouldn't see him unless he was right next to us. I then became worried about cars hitting him," he said.
'He could be anywhere'
The next morning, Jackson said all area animal shelters were made aware of Keats missing.
"We spoke to several vets in the area, and he was put on the local radio station. The next morning, me and several of my children and friends went looking, driving all around, calling for him. It is a rural area with lots of fields, apple orchards and farmland. I was overwhelmed with fear and really didn’t know how or what to do first. It just all seemed so big, so much area to cover. He could be anywhere. … We didn’t have any ideas which way he went or how far."
During the search, Lori Jackson said she reminisced about first purchasing Keats. It was through her former husband's mother, she said.
"Steve’s mom had purchased Keats through a Newfoundland breeder in Eads, Tennessee, named Amy Bray, as a surprise birthday gift. We snuck out on June 6, 2018, and drove a few hours to meet up with Amy to finally pick up our sweet bundle of fluff," she said. "The anticipation for this day had been building for weeks with updates and pictures of his developments and personality from Amy. We were completely in love with him at first sight and could not wait to share the surprise with our kids, who were immediately wrapped around his little paw."
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On Day 2 of the search, family members worried they might not ever get to hold Keats' paws again. On that day, Lori Jackson said she hired Upstate Thermal Deer and Pet Recovery drone service to help in the search.
"Owner Jason Pritchett was so helpful and quick to respond to me. He came up after work and put the drone in the air, but because we had high winds after just 30-45 minutes, he had to bring it down, apologizing and offering to come back the next day after work," she said.
He's finally found
The night of Dec. 19, the temperature dipped down to 22 degrees in Hendersonville, and for the nights of Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, it got as low as 19 degrees.
"Throughout the next few days multiple people, some family, some friends and some complete strangers went to the area, buying chicken and treats driving around calling for him, hoping to find him," Lori Jackson said. "The support and love from our community was overwhelming to say the least not just for Keats, who they quickly fell in love with, but our whole family as well."
The family went around the area, handing out flyers with Keats' photo on them.
"We put out over 200 the first go around and then another push of about 200 more," Lori Jackson said.
The Jacksons were hoping for the ultimate Christmas present of finding Keats, but Christmas came and went, and there was still no sign of him. Five days later, Lori Jackson said the miracle happened.
"On Saturday, Dec. 30, we decided to use dogs to try and track him. We began tracking at 12:45 p.m. We were on the road above the home where he got out from and suddenly Brandi (Rhodes, a family friend) came running out of her house barefoot yelling to me that he had been found. It was posted on Facebook by Tia Marlow that he was over the hill behind her home, badly injured, unable to move," Lori Jackson said.
Keats' injuries
Gabe Jackson said after seeing the post, the family quickly rushed to the back of the home where he was spotted.
"Sure enough, it was him. It was both relieving and horrifying to see him at that moment — relieving because he was alive and as long as things weren't too bad he would be able to recover, and horrifying because he was clearly struggling to even attempt to stand," Gabe Jackson said. "He had multiple open wounds and was so thin we could see his bones easily."
Lori Jackson said the family tried to put Keats on a stretcher but he was afraid of falling.
"We put him in a wagon and he tried to get out, so I picked him up and carried him to the top of the hill and passed him to Gabe, who put him in the back of a car with me and we headed to Western Carolina Regional Animal Hospital, where he received immediate care," Lori Jackson said.
Keats had multiple wounds, including four that were deep.
"He had urine burns on his belly from not being able to move. He was severely emaciated, having lost 30 pounds in 13 days, and he was dehydrated," Lori Jackson said.
Keats' right hip was only 25% in socket (50% is what it should be). After sedating and shaving him, thoroughly cleaning his wounds and taking X-rays of his back end, the vet determined that based on his injuries, he was at some point hit by a car.
"Fortunately, nothing was broken, but he was injured enough to not move for days. We will never fully know what all happened during those 13 days. I try not to think about it, because it hurts too much. ... I choose to focus on the positive," Lori Jackson said.
On the road to recovery
"He is alive and going in the right direction toward healing," Lori Jackson said. "He is the sweetest most loving boy who is quite the charmer with anyone he meets. He has kept that sweet spirit about him and will finish his years being doubly loved and spoiled by all of us."
She said all the doctors and nurses were surprised at how quickly his wounds were healing.
"He was eating small meals four times a day and drinking. Within a couple days he was able to go potty. His system finally woke up from the trauma and starvation," Lori Jackson said. "They would tell me what a gentleman he was being with the nurses allowing them to clean his wounds with no resistance. He is such a gentle giant, stealing all the hearts with his sweet disposition. We are blessed. His recovery is going to be slow, especially his weight gain and right hip, but they are expecting him to recover well."
Gabe Jackson said the recovery process is mostly the family trying to keep Keats from licking his wounds with the family cleaning them for him on a daily basis.
"We also are having to keep him from walking too much until he heals more. We are having to keep him on strict mealtimes/diet until he has recovered somewhat from the starvation," he said.
Lori Jackson said the support from the community has been "overwhelming."
"I just really want to stress how touching and beautiful it has been to see this entire community not only pull for, but believe in a good outcome for our sweet boy Keats," she said. "They literally pulled together for something so precious and heartfelt. I am truly beside myself with the amount of love from so many people that I don’t even know, not just here in our town, but just even extended out beyond. ... It has really amazed me. It has given me just such insight even more into the love that God has given all of us for not only each other, but also for our animals that are truly a part of our family," she said.
The family has created Keats' own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1725644211264421. There is also a GoFundMe page that was set up to help the family with Keats' medical expenses at https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-keats.
Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at DHensley@gannett.com. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Meet Keats, the family dog who survived 13 days in wild after injuries
