Bella's New Legs

I have told you about Animal Rescue, in New Freedom, Pa, already. The founder of Animal Rescue is Grace. She is compassionate, generous, and incredibly through all the abuse, neglect, and terrible cases she has seen she still keeps plugging along as kind and generous as ever. She is one of the most incredibly strong willed people I know. Grace has faced the most jarring sides of cruelty for a long time and yet she still answers every phone call with a smile and a hello. 

One day I got a call from Grace.  She was at BARCS, (the Baltimore City Animal Shelter) and they had told her that there was a small young white pit bull that had been surrendered to them because her legs were crooked. BARCS stated that they were not capable of the care she needed to “fix her”. Grace was there to pick up another dog when they had casually mentioned the "crooked dog". Grace wasn’t interested in trying to place another pit bull. You see in inner city Baltimore next to dime a dozen cats, there are a nickel a dozen Pit Bulls. 

Pit Bulls get a very bad unwarranted rap, and they pay for that bad reputation with their life. If you end up at the pearly white gates and they give you the option of being re-incarnated as the nicest, happiest, sweetest dog in the world, but you have a pit bull package say "No!". Most of the world will condemn you and the odds of being forgiven, or given a chance despite the face you were born with, is slim. Did you know that in some places in the world there is such a thing as breed bans? It means that if you end up in one of these places and you are a Pit Bull you are to be euthanized if your owner doesn’t come forward for claim you in the allotted time. It is a hot debate in the animal world. Here is my assessment of the debate. Color doesn’t decide whether you are less of a human, and breed doesn’t decide whether or not you are a danger to society. The man behind both of these determines what kind of soul you will become. I have known the nicest Pit Bulls in the world, and a man that will kill for fun. Don’t judge a book by ts cover. And in the famous words of one of the most famous dog trainer in history, Barbara Woodhouse, “there are no bad dogs.”

Let's get back to Grace’s call to me... She told me that there was a very nice young white female Pit Bull that had been surrendered. Grace said that she couldn’t take her, but she wondered if I could help? She knew that we at Jarrettsville Vet had a soft spot for Pit Bulls. She knew I had one, and that a few of my technicians did too. I told her to put her in the van and I would take a look at her. Grace brought Bella to the clinic a few hours later.

Bella’s original name was “Twister” some kind of cruel joke, so sad, so mean. We changed it immediately. She became Bella. She was about 3 months old. Her bowed front legs spread far apart from her chest and she needed the wide stance to stay upright. In veterinary medicine we are taught to grade everything by a scale system. On a scale of 1 to 4, 4 being the worst, her legs were a 4 plus. She looked like she had ridden a horse cross-continental since the day she was born. It almost defied what you thought was possible. Her legs were so bowed that after a few days with us we noticed that she was developing sores on the lateral (outsides) of her feet and she could barely bend her legs. She was  pitiful to look at, but, was furious about  tail wagging, kissing, and tried with all of her might to get to you just to say "hello." Her will to be a love-bug was not stopped by her inability to get anywhere. 

We ran our basic blood work, checked her for any possible cause of congenital problems, took x-rays, and crossed off all of the possible reasons to give up on her. After she came up clear for everything we could test for we began the daily challenge of trying braces, splints, and contraptions to try to get her legs to start to grow back into normal.

Everyone asked me what I thought her diagnosis was? I told them all what I honestly thought was the truth. I think that she was kept in a cage so small that she couldn’t stand up. I say this because she didn’t have any sores on her feet when she arrived. She had no evidence at all that she had walked. It is almost to difficult to imagine that you could be deformed because you weren’t allowed to grow.

She stayed behind the front desk for a few weeks. We often have a foster dog, cat, (or two or three), behind the desk to help socialize them, and help identify any behavioral problems they may have. Its sort of like speed dating. We can learn an enormous amount about a pet when we throw a lot at them quickly. In that time our clients saw her go through a few generations of splints. In the end the one that worked best for her was PVC pipe cut in half length-wise and applied in clam shell fashion to her bandaged legs. This brace helped remind her bones which directions they were allowed to grow in and they gave her the much needed support to stand up and walk. Within weeks she was almost standing up straight on both front legs. She started jumping and running and acting like the puppy she was at heart.

Today the only remnant of deformity remains as a thickened carpus, (she has bigger than normal bony wrists). She is and remains one of our most loved dog, and we use her story many times over in reminding clients that sometimes a truly unbelievable miracle can happen. Sometimes modern medicine is merely determined don’t give up and try over and over again medicine. PVC and vetwrap medicine.

She is living with Laura now, one of our Technicians. Bella is one of the smiling Pit Bull faces in the pictures below (she is the all white one).

If you would like to read more on Denver Colorado or breed bans please see the following link

www.denverkillsdogs.com/index.html

Update, February 19, 2014.

The technician who adopted Bella brings her to work every so often for a visit. Bella was at the clinic yesterday demanding attention, begging for some ball play, and in general acting like the puppy she will always remain. She is a bright, happy, energetic girl, with a soft heart, a sweet smile, and a larger than life love for everyone!

Thank goodness we saved this little girl from this...

Being a part of so many pets lives has taught me a few valuable lessons; 

1. Never give up on a pet with a drive to survive. They will amaze you.

2. Never walk away from a case because no one else wants to try.

3. Surround yourself with people who believe as strongly as you do that love can cure the ailments of the world.

4. Share a story of inspiration at every chance you get.

If you have a story of amazing pet experience to share please join us at Pawbly.com. Or visit all of us at Jarrettsville Vet in Jarrettsville Maryland.

I am also on Twitter @FreePetAdvice.

Darla's Second Chance

My introduction to Darla began with a phone call from Kim. Kim Barnes is a strong single woman on a mission. I liked her the moment I met her. She is an American Bulldog Rescue founder, foster, volunteer, and breed advocate. She also is a seasoned rescue person. She can assess a bulldog and their odds of becoming a family pet, i.e. “adoptable” very quickly and accurately. She, like many of us in this field, has also learned to look/listen past the stories of “how this particular dog got here” and focus instead on “where can we place you so you can live a long and happy life”. Like the amazing, dog behaviorist Cesar Milan always reminds us, “dogs live in the now”. Kim does the same with her dogs.

Kim answered the call from BARCS, (the acronym for Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, in downtown Baltimore MD) in late May 2011. BARCS had just taken in a beautiful white female American bulldog by a family that had been to a veterinary surgical referral center, and as they claimed, “spent a lot of money already”. They had been told by the veterinary expert that both of her stifles, (that’s a  knee to you and me) had a ruptured cranial cruciate ligament. (The CCL is called an ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, to us two legged sports-persons). Because of Diamonds injured knees she walked with a funny back end swagger, and sat down by having to rock back on her pelvis with her rear legs sort of splayed open. Not very, ladylike, but the most comfortable position you can sit down in when your knees are unstable.

When a dog has injuries to both back legs it can be a challenge to even the seasoned vet to be able to identify the source of the lameness by watching them walk alone. It is often difficult to discern knee injury from hip injury at a walk. The real beauty of a veterinarian who has practiced medicine for a good long while is that you learn to see with your hands. It is one of the very biggest challenges a new vet school grad faces. You don’t trust your hands and you don’t see with them, you have to train them the same way a violinist does, practice, practice, practice.

After Kim talked to BARCS she called me. As I began to learn about Diamond, (that was her old name, almost all rescue dogs get new first names when they change their last names). (It’s sort of like anew marriage but you lose your whole name). Kim called me because I am one of a few general practioners who perform this kind of surgery. This surgery is not taught in vet school because the advent of specialty medicine has allowed most surgeries of this caliber to the forwarded to boarded surgery veterinarians. These boarded vets spend four years after vet school learning a specialty, then they have to sit for the dreaded (and elusive) board certification test. So without being taught this procedure in vet school, or by our mentor, we don’t learn it. And if you don’t learn something and then practice it routinely it becomes scary, so most general veterinary practitioners are wary of this surgery. I do them because I had two great teachers, and I can’t stand the idea of not being able to help an animal that otherwise has to wobble around on a busted knee. At my practice I tell my clients that their dogs are far better served by the boarded surgeons, but they come with a $2500 (plus) price tag. The “almost as good as” option is available at our clinic for $1000. For a rescue dog where funds are very limited I do the surgery pro bono. I was Diamonds answer.

Kim was called by the BARCS staff the same day Diamond was dropped off. If you are dropped off, (we call it “owner surrender” the two saddest words in the dictionary) at a shelter and you have any problems you are immediately euthanized. Apparently her owners were under the belief that a local dog shelter would fix her knees for them. Apparently the owners had been give a quote from the surgery referral of $6000 to fix her knees. They couldn’t afford this so they dumped their problem on someone else, BARCS. And, because she was lucky enough to be an American Bulldog with Kim was the next in line. Kim was told by the BARCS staff that she had 24 hrs to pick her up or Diamond would be euthanized. At BARCS it is in no way a reflection of their unwillingness to help or care, but simply a function of Diamonds original problem, a lack of funds. Broken merchandise in any arena has diminished, little, or no value. Kim hung up the phone with BARCS and called me. We discussed what she knew, what she wasn’t sure of, and all I could say was, “well if the diagnosis is correct I can fix them”.  But I had to put a lot of “ifs” in my statements. As I said before, it is really hard to diagnose a problem by sight alone, but verbal hearsay is even harder. I told her I couldn’t bear to hear the story and not help, so I said, ‘if you go get her, I’ll find a way to help get her fixed’.

Kim went down to BARCS and got her. She called when she got home and made the appointment for me to assess her the next day. I decided her diagnosis was correct and she got her second lucky break. We scheduled her to her surgery, which had to be postponed another two weeks, because in her short 1 day stay she got kennel cough.

Two weeks later I cut her first, what I thought was the worst, knee. It was a full cruciate tear with significant joint disease already settling in, and a terribly damaged medial meniscus. (That’s the little cushion that buffers the blow your heavy duty femur, thigh bone, places on the tibia, the bone in your lower leg). She woke up well, and limped back to her foster family. A short 6 weeks later, (actually yesterday the third of August 2011), we fixed her other knee. This knee was unfortunately just as bad as the first. I was told by Kim that she did great after the first knee and saw an orthopedic surgeon post op who remarked how great her leg was healing and how solid her knee was.

Kim also reports to me that Diamond is now officially “Darla”. She has been adopted by a family with two small children whom she loves and adores, and they love her back. She is strong, sweet, and as all dogs are; able to forgive and move on. Darla is a true testament of the best of this breed; kind, gentle, and sweet.  Having an advocate like Kim who answers the call, drives you around to your doctors appointments and doesn’t look at you based on your deficiencies but rather your possibilities is also a very good thing.

If you would like to learn more about cranial cruciate ligament damage or repair please see this link

http://tinyurl.com/3b4xd6g

If you would like to learn more about the American Bulldog Rescue please see the link below

http://americanbulldogrescue.org/