03.22.09
URGENT: Beautiful 1 year old lhasa boy is in severe pain and needs surgery!
I was so hesitant to take in yet another dog right now, much less one that now needs two major surgeries. The Katy 34 has definitely taken it’s toll on our funds and our emotions.
This little boy was presented to us by his next door neighbor. He’s basically lived outdoors for the past year. He was purchased for the little boy who had no interest in having a dog, so outside he went. The neighbor had noticed that the little dog had been limping and wondered if he had been hit by car or suffered some sort of abusive kick.
As I said, we are so overwhelmed with dogs right now, we certainly didn’t need another one, but when I heard his story, I could absolutely not let him sit there in pain. I know you would not want him to suffer.
So, the neighbor convinced the owner to surrender him to us.
One of our volunteers picked him up and held him for a couple of days. A trip to the groomer was in order. This is what we found underneath all of the mats. This is one gorgeous little dog!!
When he got here, I took him to our vet for an x-ray, expecting to see a broken bone or luxated hip, like Weise had. What we saw was not even recognizable as a dog’s hip joint.
Here is a comparison of a good hip and Darden’s hip joints. Please click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see what we’re talking about.
Do you see how horribly “mangled” his hip joints are. Especially the right one. I don’t know if any of you have arthritis, but that is exactly what has happened to the necrotic bone.
As it turns out, Darden, a one-year old little boy, has a disease called Legg-Perthe disease. This is suspected to be a genetic disease that causes something to go wrong in the vascular system in the leg bones and the tops of the bones become necrotic. It’s not that common in Lhasas, but very common in poodles and yorkies.
Darden has a very, very severe case in his right leg – and is in severe, severe pain. The muscles in both of his legs have atrophied and he often does not put that leg down at all when walking.
He desperately needs surgery. In both legs. The best option is the total hip replacement, which is exactly what Weise got. The surgeon basically replaces the ball and socket in order to stablize the joint. This is the BEST option for Darden. But, because of the severity of the condition on the right leg, the surgeon is not even sure he can do a hip replacement – he may have to try an FHO, which is not an ideal solution for a long-bodied lhasa, but is better than the pain he is in now.
Although not a life or death emergency, we need to get this surgery scheduled THIS WEEK – this boy in in excruciating pain.
We can only do one leg at a time – we have to see how the surgery takes before we can proceed. The surgeon wants to do the worst leg first and the cost is estimated at $4500 plus or minus 10%. Please please let us help get this boy out of pain!
If you can donate, please use Paypal HERE or send a check HERE or use a credit card HERE.
Thank you for whatever you can do!!
