06.24.08

Another little dog needs expensive surgery!

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:30 am by Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue

Are we doing the right thing here?  We have been innundated with very broken dogs lately.  Some have questioned whether we should take in these broken ones or let them go and save a bunch of young and immediately adoptable ones. 

We’ve always been about saving the ones no one else wants, but in this economy, we’re starting to wonder.  Let me refresh your memory on this one’s story and then we can all decide.

Say hello to Weise Arkana.  You know the story – same song 100th verse.  Shelter dog, limping, no where to go, passed up by all adopters, passed up by other rescues …..

The following came from our volunteer that rescued him…

“He was not worst case of matting I have seen but the worst I have dealt with.  Once I got all the hair shaved, remarkably, his skin is in great shape and he will have a beautiful coat once it grows back.

As you know, he did test positive for heartworms, he has a dislocated right hip, has not been neutered and one testicle has not descended.  the vet easily found and manipulated the non-descended testicle and said it would be easy to remove. 

Weise is a love.  He is around 4 years old with a great personality; nice all around dog.  I believe he is housetrained.  He stays in the laundry room during the day and not one accident.  Of course, I take him out all through the day.  He always goes potty when he is taken out.  He sleeps in a crate beside my bed and doesn’t make a sound all night.  He is having discomfort from the hip, as he jerks around toward his rear for no apparent reason when you hold him or when another dog tries to play with him.  He seems to want to play, you can see it in his eye, but holds back because it just would hurt if he tried.

 

The side showing on the right of this x-ray shows how the ball and socket are supposed to be.  The left side shows how badly dislocated Weise’s hip is.  With the hip this “off” there is no stability when he puts weight on that leg.  Since the top of the leg bone isn’t seated in the pelvis socket, there is no support.

We took little Weise to Gulf Coast (yes, back there again.  I’ve told them they need a wing named after us).

His hip is dislocated, but after taking some better x-rays, we found that the bones are not arthritic, in fact they are in excellent shape.  The surgeon, Dr. Liska, who is one of the foremost authorities on hip problems, said he MIGHT be able to actually re-attach everything.  But, of course, this may change after he gets Weise opened up and can see first hand how the structures look.

Of course, this is the OPTIMAL solution – simply repair what Weise already has.  But, if he gets in there and finds that the bones are not structurally sound, he may have to take more drastic measures. 

There are two options for Weise if he cannot be repaired.  First is a Femoral Head Ostectomy, in which the ball of his hip is cut off.  Once the ball is gone, the hope is that fibrous tissue will fill the large gap between the top of his leg and the hip socket.  There are two main problems with this type of surgery.  First, the leg is shortened considerably and secondly, the leg no longer works the same.  For a dog like Weise, thos can pose a significant problem in the future.  He is a very long-bodied lhasa, which in itself, makes him prone to back problems.  Shortening one leg will cause his gait to change and may put undue stress on his back.  If any of you have back problems and have been to a chiropracter (I have one of the best around), you may have found that your back problem was related to one leg being shorter than another.

This x-ray shows what a femoral head ostectomy would work on Weise.

As you can see, basically the ball is removed from the top of the leg bone and that bone sort of floats inside the socket.

The second option, which is of course MUCH more expensive than the first, is to replace his femoral head AND the socket with an implant.  This will make his repair structurally sound.  You can read about these choices on the GULF COAST WEBSITE. 

So, I know there are many out there that would say that we should not spend so much money on a single dog.  And a RESCUE dog at that.  They would say that we could save so many more dogs with that same amount of money and we should just let this one go.

But, you know, because we do separate fundraisers for specific dogs, our ability to save more healthy dogs isn’t constrained by money, it’s constrained by foster homes (hint hint). 

And, this is what Lone Star is all about – saving those that everyone else has passed by – fixing the broken ones so that they will have a chance at life.

So, please help us fix him up so his insides look as good as his outside.  We’re only going to try to raise what is needed for the “repair” surgery right now since we don’t know if he’ll need the hip implant.  That surgery with x-rays is estimated at $2650 + or - 10 %.  He needs another $250 for heartworm treatment.  We would really like to fix this little boy.   Click here to donate for Weise’s surgery.  As of Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Weise has raised $565 for his surgery.  Thanks go to PAWS of MA, Cynthia Datonni, Wyatt Edenfield in honor of Oreo and Rocky and Barbara Grabell in honor of Cole.

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