Rescued Pit Bull Saves Boy's Life

Sensed his low blood sugar and warned mom
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 9, 2013 12:13 PM CDT
Rescued Pit Bull Saves Boy's Life
Norton, a rescued pit bull.   (AP Photo/Paws for Life Rescue)

Pit bulls don't get a lot of good press, but here's one pooch doing its part to change the breed's image: TatorTot, a rescued pit bull from Minneapolis possibly saved a 4-year-old boy's life after he sensed a dangerous drop in the youngster's blood sugar and warned the boy's mother. The dog was scheduled to be put down, but had been taken in as a foster by the family less than a week earlier, reports Fox 9.

Christi Smith says TaterTot came to her in the middle of the night after he had tried, and failed, to rouse her son, Peyton. "He kept on whining and barking and running between the two of us," she says. "I checked on him, and he was barely breathing." Smith rushed the boy to the ER, where doctors found his blood sugar was dangerously low. A vet says he probably sniffed out the changes in the boy. "If his blood sugar was that low, he may have been producing ketones," she explains. "What, for us, is barely a whiff of something gives them a huge picture of what's going on." (More Pitbull stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X