Animal doctors have carried out a rare life-saving heart operation on a puppy.

Jack Russell puppy Jess's chances of survival were slim when vets discovered she had been born with a serious heart defect.

But the tiny nine-week-old pet pooch has been given a new lease of life thanks to a major operation carried by Witham vet Mark Hurst.

Jess, who weighs the same as a bag of sugar, had a problem with a major artery supplying oxygen to the heart.

The operation -- called patent ductus ateriosus -- was to close a communicating tube running into the heart.

Without the operation, normally carried out at university veterinary hospitals, Jess would have died within weeks.

Jess has recovered so well from the two-hour operation, carried out at the end of last week, one of the first things she did during her post-operative check-up was to playfully bite Mr Hurst's dog, Nellie, on the nose.

"Nellie took it in good part," said Mr Hurst, a partner in the Spring Lodge Veterinary Hospital in Witham. "She's used to puppies."

The operation has been hailed a complete success. Jess's owners Denise Smith and niece Tiana Smith, who live at White Notley, said they were over the moon at Jess's recovery.

"I didn't realise there was anything wrong with her until we took her for her first injections," said Denise. "We want to thank the veterinary team who were marvellous."

Jess is now safely back home, playing with her twin sister Bonnie and Denise's other dog, a Doberman, Paddy.

Mark has set up a website, charting Jess's recovery, on www.springlodge.co.uk

Not longer feeling 'ruff' -- puppy Jess, who is recovering from life-saving heart surgery, with vet Mark Hurst and owner Denise Smith.

Picture: CLARE BANKS

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.