Tessa (Lucy 12-358)

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Lucy is a 17 week old female puppy she was born on July 1st , 1202. Her mother is a pure bread golden retriever and her father is a pure bread yellow pointer lab. She was surrendered to RAGOM because she was hit by a car and her family could not afford the surgery to repair her leg. It was a very expensive surgery and Lucy will need more follow up care which is all expensive. If you would like to sponsor a dog Lucy could sure use your support.

 

 

Little Lucy broke her thigh bone near the knee. The repair is difficult (pins and wires) and the rehab regimen will need to be followed closely in order to minimize scar tissue that can restrict her movement of that joint later in life. She also broke the top of her thigh bone that sits in the hip socket. The surgeon performed a femoral head osteotomy (FHO) which means the top part of the bone that fits into the socket was removed. This is a surgery typically done on older dogs with painful hip dysplasia not 4 month old puppies! Unfortunately, the bone could not be saved. Lucy will always need to remain lean and strong in order to support the joints and maintain less stress on them. She will also need to be on glucosamine/chondroitin for life as this helps the joints stay healthy. Hard work now with range of motion, heat and ice will help in the long run. We are very hopeful that she will not have a limp when all is healed! After her initial healing, consistent exercise will be key to avoiding muscle loss in the legs. All of this is trickier to predict in a growing puppy so we will do our best with the rehab instructions over the next several weeks as she heals. Many thanks to our wonderful ortho surgeon Dr. Rasmussen from Veterinary Surgical Specialists and Inver Grove Animal Hospital for so quickly helping our sweet girl!! As she is recovering from her surgery she will need to stay very calm, no running and playing. Have you ever seen a small puppy calm and not playing, this is going to be a big challenge for me but I am up for the task. Lucy is very sweet and very easy to love.

 

 

I am not sure what she will need in her forever home. Time will tell as she heals. Lucy lived on a farm and slept outside in a kennel. She is not house trained. We will be working on that. I have to carry her outside so this may take a little longer because she cannot walk to the door on her own. Her family said she has been around guns and the noise they make, she didn’t seem to mind. She has been exposed to cats and would probably be ok with them. Check back often to see how she is growing and how she is healing.

 

Thanks to RAGOM for taking her in and to Berry for getting her to me so quickly so I could get her the medical treatment that she needed.

At a Glance #12-358

Mixed Breed Born: July 2012
Female 28 lbs

Status: Adopted

Profile

Lucy is a 17 week old female puppy she was born on July 1st , 1202. Her mother is a pure bread golden retriever and her father is a pure bread yellow pointer lab. She was surrendered to RAGOM because she was hit by a car and her family could not afford the surgery to repair her leg. It was a very expensive surgery and Lucy will need more follow up care which is all expensive. If you would like to sponsor a dog Lucy could sure use your support.

 

 

Little Lucy broke her thigh bone near the knee. The repair is difficult (pins and wires) and the rehab regimen will need to be followed closely in order to minimize scar tissue that can restrict her movement of that joint later in life. She also broke the top of her thigh bone that sits in the hip socket. The surgeon performed a femoral head osteotomy (FHO) which means the top part of the bone that fits into the socket was removed. This is a surgery typically done on older dogs with painful hip dysplasia not 4 month old puppies! Unfortunately, the bone could not be saved. Lucy will always need to remain lean and strong in order to support the joints and maintain less stress on them. She will also need to be on glucosamine/chondroitin for life as this helps the joints stay healthy. Hard work now with range of motion, heat and ice will help in the long run. We are very hopeful that she will not have a limp when all is healed! After her initial healing, consistent exercise will be key to avoiding muscle loss in the legs. All of this is trickier to predict in a growing puppy so we will do our best with the rehab instructions over the next several weeks as she heals. Many thanks to our wonderful ortho surgeon Dr. Rasmussen from Veterinary Surgical Specialists and Inver Grove Animal Hospital for so quickly helping our sweet girl!! As she is recovering from her surgery she will need to stay very calm, no running and playing. Have you ever seen a small puppy calm and not playing, this is going to be a big challenge for me but I am up for the task. Lucy is very sweet and very easy to love.

 

 

I am not sure what she will need in her forever home. Time will tell as she heals. Lucy lived on a farm and slept outside in a kennel. She is not house trained. We will be working on that. I have to carry her outside so this may take a little longer because she cannot walk to the door on her own. Her family said she has been around guns and the noise they make, she didn’t seem to mind. She has been exposed to cats and would probably be ok with them. Check back often to see how she is growing and how she is healing.

 

Thanks to RAGOM for taking her in and to Berry for getting her to me so quickly so I could get her the medical treatment that she needed.

Updates

Sunday, December 16, 2012

I am happy to announce that Lucy, AKA Tessa, has gone home!!! Her family picked her up on Saturday afternoon. She will have a big dog brother to show her the ropes and to play with. I know she is going to have an awesome life. Thank you to all the wonderful doctors that helped in her recovery. Thank You to RAGOM for taking her in and giving her everything she needed to make her whole again. This was a very expensive surgery that Lucy had to have. If you would like to make a donation to help cover some of these cost, RAGOM and I would very appreciative. Thank you.

 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Lucy is doing Fine and is healing from her surgery. We are working on some physical therapy with her, strengthening and stretching her leg. She is still on activity restrictions. This means she is not allowed to run around and to play too hard, for a puppy that is all they want to do. This has been hard for her but she is a very happy girl and the time is going by quickly.  I keep her on a leash at all times so she does not run on her leg. She will be off of restriction soon. Lucy will be getting her spay surgery in a few weeks. When she gets that surgery they will take x-rays and look at her leg and see how it is healing. Once she heals from that she will be able to play run and have fun. I can hardly wait to see her run around the yard without a leash on, and to just enjoy being a puppy.

Lucy went to the lake last weekend. It was a long drive, a lot of traffic with all the deer hunters on the road. She road fine in the truck I held her most of the way. She liked walking in the leafs, Lucy also likes to hang out with my resident dog, Baylee. She likes to climb on her back and sit on top of her and look over her head to see what she is doing. Baylee is not so sure she likes that but she is very tolerant of her. How soon she forgets that was her not to long ago. Monday Lucy got her stitches out. The first thing on our list to do was give her a bath. No more cone. Lucy and I are very happy about that.

Lucy had a very special lady come and see her this weekend! She was so in love with Lucy and Lucy Just loved her. Lucy has found her forever home and will be going to live with her new family as soon as she heals up a little more. She will have a home with a mom and a fur brother. She will have a large yard to play in, she will be loved and have a wonderful life.

 

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Day 1. Surgery

 

Day 2. I picked Lucy up at the vet. Poor girl not very happy, she was up all night. I held her all night and tried to make her comfortable.

 

Day 3. Lucy is feeling a little better. Somehow she got a few stitches to come out. Rushed her back to the vet they retied a few and put in two staples.

 

Day 4. Even with a cone on Lucy had a few more stitches come untied. It is late on Saturday afternoon, the vet is not open. I will have to try and retie them myself. She has started to touch her toes to the ground. She is eating much better and she is sleeping through the night.

 

Day 5. I have fixed the stitches, a little hot glue and I pushed all the strings together. It looks a little funny but it did the trick. Lucy tried to jump up on me today, she wants to use the leg but it is too soon for jumping up. I am trying to keep her calm.

 

Day 6. Lucy is doing so well at going potty outside! No accidents in the house at all, she will even wine a little bit if she needs to go out. She does not like to eat her food on her own, I have to sit by her and hand feed her or spoon it up to her mouth. I am going to try a bigger bowl tonight and see if that helps.

 

Day 7. I took Lucy out to lie in the grass, it was such a nice day. Every time an airplane would go over she would stop what she was doing and look to the sky to see what the noise was. She is feeling much better and sometimes forgets she has a hurt leg until she falls down on it. That will make her cry and yelp.

 

Day 8. today I have started working with her leg. I put the heating pad on it for 15 to 20 minutes and then do some moving of her leg, we do this two times a day. The hip moves fairly well but the knee is very stiff and she does not want to move it at all. Over time the knee should get more movement.

 

Day 9. Lucy is a work in progress. She is still a puppy with all the things puppies do, chewing on everything, biting and wanting to play, play, play and on top of that we need to keep her calm so her leg can heal. She is now kennel trained and will go in and relax as long as she can’t see me. If she sees me she will bark, bark, bark. Lucy is eating on her own a little better, I need to stay by her to keep her interested in the food or she will leave it and want to play.

Lucy likes to hang out with our resident dog, they will lay together on the dog bed. Sometime the sharing of the bones gets a little loud. Lucy will stick up for herself and give my Baylee a stern talking to.