I received an email with the subject line, "Dog with crippled leg." It came from Deb N., who does rescue work on her own in Browning, Montana, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The dog had been picked up as a stray by the local animal control officer.
Deb wrote, "She has a crippled front leg, it looks like it was broken or mangled and got no vet care. It looks old and healed, with a scar on the front. She puts it down, but it’s so crooked that it’s ineffective, so she hobbles. The ACO picked her up (no speed & way too friendly), no one has claimed her, even though he has had her for several weeks, past the PTS time … had a picture taken for the paper but no takers. She is so sweet, happy, looks at you and wags her tail in circles. She desperately needs a place to go … he can no longer keep her. Can you please help?"
A few years ago Deb had contacted us about another dog in the same shelter, a Border Collie whose front leg had just been sheared off in a trap … and had been left to languish in the shelter for nearly a week with no medical care. We named the dog Cheyenne, and you can read her story here. (She has since been adopted by a wonderful family in the Seattle area.)
Last Friday, Deb drove the dog down to Helena and dropped her off at our vet clinic, Montana Veterinary Specialists. This week our vet Dr. Jennifer Rockwell did a complete medical check-up on the dog, who at that point had no name … so Jennifer named her Sweetie. Jennifer told me, "She is so sweet, and since she needed a name, it seemed like the thing to call her!" Jennifer also spayed Sweetie. Her bloodwork and urinalysis all looked fine, and Jennifer estimated she’s at most only about two years old.
The X-rays showed previous untreated fractures on both legs, but the worst one was her right front leg, which also has a thick scar across it. Here’s a close-up:
Despite how it looks, she does use the leg, though she limps on it. Because it’s an old fracture that has healed up, our vets can’t do anything more — and Jennifer did not think they should amputate the leg, given how she can bear weight on it.
Sweetie’s body has clearly taken some blows, but so has her psyche. She is very, very scared — mostly of men. With me she cowers on the ground, rolls over submissively, but at the same time wants to lick me on the face. She acts like she is expecting to get hit all the time. To get the photo of her sitting up with me, we had to have Alayne pet her and make all over her first … that got her to sit up at least … and then I worked my way in from the side, handed Alayne the camera, and kneeled down next to her before she could drop to the ground again.
I can just tell that she is used to being smacked around, and yet she wants so hard to please you. It’s really heartbreaking. She tries to be affectionate with me … but she’s kind of cringing at the same time. It’s as if the displays of affection are her way of trying to ward off the blows she thinks are coming any second.
But sweet she definitely is, and both Deb and Jennifer were right on in describing her personality!
—
Jennifer had good news about the liver biopsy for blind Lady — it turned out not to be cancer. Instead, the biopsy revealed changes in the liver cells that are more consistent with Cushing’s disease. Thus we are now waiting on the results of the Cushing’s test. (We are treating three horses with Cushing’s so this is something we’re familiar with … although we’ve never had it in a dog before.) While we dodged a bullet on her liver, Jennifer said that Lady’s heart condition is so advanced that she probably only has a few months to live, even with her heart medications. We are going to do our best to ensure that those will be the best months of her life.
We had Lady groomed while she was at the vet clinic, and her thick rug of a coat was so matted underneath that she needed to get a full body clip. If you go back to that original post to see photos of her two weeks ago, you’ll see she’s a very different looking girl now! Here’s a photo I took of her this evening:
Our bill at the vet clinic yesterday for current charges was $5,180.64, and covered several animals who had surgery or received other care in the past month — among them Creighton, Snowball, Mitch, Briggs, Bobby, Herbie, Stoney, Duchess and Lady. Lady’s bill alone was $1,318 and Duchess’s bill was $974. We are always incredibly grateful for the gifts that make it possible for us to pay a bill like that. Thanks to our supporters for allowing us to provide these special animals with the best possible medical care!
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
Leave a reply to Carla Polastro-Nigro Cancel reply