Chase #02-033

Chase is a 10 week old puppy who is missing part of his right foot.  It was bitten off when he stuck his paw in the next door dog's pen who was whelping.  Chase is from a puppy-mill and does not really know how to be a puppy, but he is not shy, in fact we nicknamed him "trouble" b/c he ate the door knob to the car on the 3 hour drive home.  He is getting along well with my dogs and cats, and is starting to warm up to us.  His toe has not healed yet so it might be a week or two before he is ready.

UPDATES:

5/14/02:  Chase 02-033 went to his forever home with the Audery and Larry M. I am bawling like a baby, but I will handle it. I know he will be happy. And in 2 weeks I get to baby-sit him while they go on their honeymoon. I am happy for Chase. The little guy had been through so much in his short life it was time for a happy ending. He will be greatly missed here.

4/6/02:  Well I think Chase keeps getting cuter and cuter with age. It is something about his face, I think maybe the long eye lashes, that makes you want to hug him all the time. He knows it works really well on me and uses that to his advantage. He is continuing to heal and I guess no one told Chase that he had a major operation and needs to take it easy. To him it is like nothing happened. WE go back to the vet next week and I think it will be all good news

3/20/02:  Chase went to the vet, and we got good news.  His toes are healing nicely, and they can not believe how much movement he now has in his elbow joint, it is now almost normal.  They took more x-rays and everything looks GREAT!  He is healing so fast.  He still can't run and play, but he now gets two 10 min leash walks a day, and when we go back in two weeks we will see how he is and then maybe he can take the next step and be able to be loose in the house without being tethered.

3/10/02:  Chase still hates being in the crate, but we got some deer bones this week and they keep him happy for a long time.  He is now walking on his bad leg, and we have to keep telling him that he can't run and jump yet.  I had him in the bed with us the other night and before I could catch him he jumped off the bed.....talk about giving me a heart attack....he just looked at me like I was crazy while I fussed over him.  So now there is no more bed for Chase until the doctor gives the ok.  We go back to the vet on the 15th and let hope the news is good.  :)

3/3/02:  Chase is HATING being in the crate.  We moved it to the living room so he could be with us, but he still wants to play with the other dogs.  He doesn't seem to understand that he can't play or run for 4 weeks.  It is only day 2 and he is already crying and trying to find away out of his crate.  We are giving him frozen kongs and bones just trying to keep him busy.  Hopefully he will learn that we are trying to help him.

2/28/02:  Just got a call from the vet explaining everything to me.  Everything went well when they got in they found that his elbow joint was not stable and they also tightened that for us.  They ulna repair went really well, as did his toes.  They had to take more then they thought b/c when they got in they found that the twisted big toe he had left was also broken and that explains why it hurt him to walk.  So they took up to the second joint on that third toe and to the next joint on the tow bitten toes.  His hip operation looked really great, and so did the neuter.  It will take him a long time to heal.  They have him on morphine now and some ordered for tonight if he needs it, but think he will be off that tomorrow.  They are going to send him home with me tomorrow afternoon.  They normally keep them for a few days, but feel I am knowledgeable enough to handle him and what needs to be done.  (OK, my ego kinda got a little big, nice to get compliments from the vet.)  :)  The vet said that 5 vets asked if he had a home yet and she told them to get in contact with me so we may have some vet/vet student apps soon!  LOL  The vet said that a home with a vet would be best for Chase as he may need more operations when he gets older.  I told her I would let RAGOM know.  Other than that, they put Chase on the phone so I could tell him good night, but he is kinda out of the world at the moment from the morphine.  I will get pics to you tomorrow the minute I get him home.

2/28/02:  Just got the call from the doctor.  Chase made it through surgery with flying colors.  He is awake, but they are keeping him until tomorrow b/c he is really sore.  So I will pick him up tomorrow and start the babying process.

2/27/02:  Little Chase will be having THREE major operations tomorrow!  We went back to the vet for a recheck and we had the "worst" case happen.  First, Chase's ulna in his front leg had stopped growing b/c of the leg fracture that he had before he came in to RAGOM.  With the radius growing, it was causing the ulna to twist so tomorrow he will have part of his ulna cut away.  ( I know it sounds crazy to make a shorter bone longer by cutting it shorter, but it works.  I have watched this operation before.)  The bone will then be repaired by filling it in with fat cells and bone from a dead dog to make it grow straight again making his elbow line up with his other joint.  Ok that is the first part of the operation.

The next part he will be having the two bitten off toes amputated to the joint so he is not walking on bone.  He will also have his big toe amputated to the second joint b/c it is so twisted it is causing him pain.  That is the second part.

And last but not least we had the surprise.  When they took x-rays today of his bad foot they sedated him.  While under sedation they decided to check his hips and found bad hip displaysia already.  So they have a new procedure they are going to do with him.  It is called juvenile pubic syniphysiodesis where they cut his pubic bone's growth plate causing it to stop growing and thus making the hip joints bend outward making them more able to keep the ball in the joint.  They have had great luck with this new operation in young dogs.

So chase is going to be a VERY sore puppy for some time.  He will not be able to have ANY activities for a long time.  Iowa state vet hospital is giving us a great deal on all the operations and is saving us about $1000.  They are also going to neuter him while they fix his hips - it is the same incision.  He will be able to come home tomorrow and be on pain killers for awhile.  I made them a nice candy basket to give to his doctor for all the help they are giving us.

Well that is all and I will keep you all updated on his recovery.

2/17/02:  Chase is really hating not being able to play.  We are ending up crating him more b/c on a tether he just tries to pull away from it.  He loves his pill time b/c he gets it wrapped in cheese.  We go back to the vet next week so I hope that the infection will be gone by then.

2/13/02:  Chase and I just got back from the Iowa State Vet's and the news is not good. We were there for 4 hours. They took x-rays and found out that he has a almost healed leg fracture that we have to watch to make sure the growth plates were not hurt. The fracture is healed in a different position but they think it will correct itself. They also found that he has a bone infection in 2 of his bitten off toes and one starting in the twisted toe he has left. They took fluid from the bone to have it check out to see what is, and how to treat it, but for now is on antibiotics for 2 weeks. They also believe he will have to have his one big remaining toe and the rest of the bitten off one amputated so that he will not be crippled later in life. They would make him a stump so it would be easier for him to walk on. They also found that all his joints are badly thickened, one of the worst they seen, and believe that is from malnutrition at the puppy-mill and bad breeding. So later in life he will have joint problems.

I was so mad at the place he came from I started to cry at the vets. For only 11 weeks old his boy has been through hell and back.

We have to go back in two weeks to see how the infection is coming and to plan the next step.

The worse part is that he can not have any exercise for the next 2 weeks, he either has to be crated or tethered to me and no running, jumping or playing with toys or the dogs.  Try telling that to a 11 week old puppy. This is going to be a long two weeks and probably a lot longer until he is Healed and fixed up.  So at this time I don't think Chase should be available for adoption.  I did email Kelli to see what we could give him to make his joints healthier.

Please say a little prayer for Chase that he can have a quick recovery and that they don't have to take the whole leg.

2/02:  Chase has came a long way this week.  He has learned to trust us and what fun it is to play with us.  He went to the vet to get a check up and the vet thinks his foot is healing nicely.  This week though we have noticed that he is favoring it a lot more and are thinking about taking him to a specialist to see what can be done.  The wound is getting bigger and really strange tissue is growing on it, not the normal scar tissue.  Chase is really great to have around the house, he will always give us a laugh.  He also has the CUTEST face in the whole world.