Tag Archives: surgery saving pets

2021, Adoption, Bully Dogs, County Animal Control, Dogs, FOTAS, injured animals, News, surgeries

Shelter Dog Spirit Overcomes Adversity, Hopes for a Forever Home

Posted on by Bob Gordon
05
May

The 27-pound mixed breed female that hobbled out of the roadside woods to greet Patrick Miller, Animal Control Officer, was bringing a lesson to share.

Patrick suspected a hit and run with the number of cuts in her body and the skew of her bloodied jaw. Her ribs were defined under white and brown fur with the last good meal long forgotten. The left eye also seemed cloudy. It would take a vet to confirm and repair her broken hip, but Patrick knew she was in pain even without an aggressive reaction to his touch. She was one more of the many good dogs that tugged him back to work, day after day, patrolling Aiken County for the lost, abused, and injured. Each case saddened him but rewarded him as well with the chance to help and be part of a success story. And that’s what this is.

Spirit went through surgery to recover from her hit & run injuries.

Dr. Mike Wells, a veterinarian helping the Aiken County Animal Shelter and Dr. Lisa Levy, DVM for the shelter, surgically reset the broken hip and sutured the cuts. The empty sockets of teeth that had been knocked out would heal with the support of antibiotics. Dr. Levy says, “She is one of the most physically challenged dogs we have seen but her spirit has never wavered. The jaw muscles have atrophied and she can only open her mouth enough to eat canned food.”

Kathy Jacobs, FOTAS Programs Coordinator, adds, “She is all love and never stopped fighting. We call her Spirit. Dogs like Spirit are the reason FOTAS is so committed to the shelter.”

When Kathy introduced me to Spirit, I knelt on one knee with my camera bag at my side. Spirit without hesitation sat on the bag of this stranger, and leaned into my leg, turning her head to look up at me, nuzzling into my hand. On the exhale of a deep breath, I murmured, “Good dog. What a sweetheart. An inspiration.”

Perhaps that is the lesson Spirit came to the shelter to share… to live for today with joy unburdened by pains and sorrows of yesterdays.

Dr. Levy estimates Spirit is 2 years old. Kathy says Spirit walks well on a leash, appears to be housetrained, but like most trauma dogs, needs personal care and time to adjust.

“Her tongue slips out occasionally through the missing teeth, but no harm, she’ll pull it back or give you kiss,” Kathy said. “Spirit will be as loyal as a pet can be to the lucky people who adopt her.”

If you want to take a short walk with Spirit or quiet get-acquainted time to consider her lesson, call now to schedule a visit: 803-979-2634. If you’re not ready to adopt, visit the County Shelter anyway to feel good, donate, and volunteer.

Their lives are in our hands.

Editor’s Note: Spirit was adopted by a wonderful Aiken family shortly after this column was published by the Aiken Standard.

— by Vince Verrecchio, FOTAS Volunteer

2020, Cats, Dr. Lisa Levy, FIV positive felines, injured animals, neglected pets, News, surgeries

A Tale of Two Kitties: Greg and Torino

Posted on by Bob Gordon
22
Dec

I often wish that animals could talk, so they could tell us what happened to them.

Greg is a complete mystery. He is a big, handsome gray cat but his feet were a disaster when he arrived at the shelter. Three of his feet had big, red fleshy areas on the underside. After sedating him to get a better look, I could see one pad on each foot had split open and what I was looking at was the inside of his pad on the outside! The pad had tried to close around it, so this had been going on for some time.

Surgery was extensive. Two of the pads were toe pads, so it was easier and a better prognosis to remove the toe. He lost a toe on one front foot and one rear foot. The real problem was the other front foot, as that was the large pad he walks on. The excess tissue was removed and the pad sewed closed.

Torino quickly recovered from his surgery and was adopted shortly after becoming available at the Aiken County Animal Shelter.

Unfortunately, pads do not heal well and I was worried about his recovery. As predicted, the surgery site opened again – twice! At that point, I just had to bandage it and let it heal on its own. This required weeks of bandage changes, but Greg was the most patient cat I have every dealt with. He is super affectionate, loves to be held and the whole staff loves him.

Greg tested positive for the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), so he needs to be an indoor-only cat. FIV positive cats can live with FIV negative cats if they get along since it is transmitted primarily by bite wounds. But since we don’t know if Greg gets along with other cats, and don’t want to take a chance of infecting another cat, we recommend he be adopted as an only cat.

Torino came into the shelter with the string from a “fuzzy dice” car ornament wrapped around his rear leg, cutting off the circulation. I had already left for the day so when Judith, my vet tech, called, I thought I would just be going in to sedate him and remove the string. But one look at his leg and I could tell the muscles of his leg were dead. Our only option was an emergency amputation. Dead muscles can quickly make an animal extremely sick.

We had no idea if Torino would be friendly and adoptable. If he was feral, he would not be a good candidate for the surgery as he would require antibiotics and follow-up care. What if we couldn’t get our hands on him the next day? I decided to give him a chance and go ahead with the surgery. The procedure went well and he recovered normally.

Young Xander Stefanakos spends time with Greg, a super affectionate FIV positive cat who needs a loving home.

The next day we could touch him but he cowered in the back of his kennel, preferring to be left alone. Amazingly, after three days, when Judith was cleaning his kennel, Torino rubbed his head against her hand and started purring. He became very loving and was adopted quickly after his recovery was complete.

Both of these cats defied the odds and will make great pets for their lucky adopters. Sometimes they just need to be given a chance. Torino is doing great in his new home and sweet Greg is still waiting to be adopted.

— By Dr. Lisa Levy, Aiken County Animal Shelter Veterinarian

2020, animal abuse, ANIMAL CRUELTY, Dogs, Dr. Lisa Levy, FOTAS, injured animals, neglected pets, News, surgeries

A Song of Survival: The Ballad of Willie Nelson

Posted on by Bob Gordon
09
Sep

I came into work one morning several months ago to find that Animal Control had brought in a medium-sized, black dog who could not stand up. After examination, I found that his back legs worked fine but he could not use either front leg. X-rays revealed that his right front leg had an old gunshot wound just above the elbow that had shattered the bone. The bone had healed as best it could and felt stable when touched. The left front leg was normal on x-ray but had nerve damage.

He was happy and not in any pain, so I planned to keep him a few days, hoping his owner would claim him. But if not, we would euthanize him.

Amazingly after two days, he started to walk on the gunshot leg, but still could not use the nerve-damaged leg. The staff fell in love with him and named him Willie Nelson (because he howls and “sings” when he wants attention). He continued to get stronger on the right leg, but his left leg would collapse every time he tried to put weight on it. We made the decision to amputate the left leg and he healed beautifully.

The day before he was to go up for adoption, he suddenly wouldn’t stand. We x-rayed the leg again and found it had fractured through the area where the gunshot wound was. Because it had not healed well, it couldn’t withstand the strain of bearing the extra weight of him being three-legged. My husband, Dr. Michael Wells, and I decided to repair the fracture with metal pins, which we planned to leave in place for stability. Two of our kennel crew, Brandon and Chase, fostered him while he healed.

Unfortunately, the bone was too soft from all the previous damage and the pins kept backing out. Despite several attempts to reset them, they finally came out completely.

Our next step was a cast, which Willie hated but learned to tolerate. Finally, the day came to remove the cast. Willie walked on his leg but after only a few minutes there was an audible crack. The leg had broken again!

Willie Nelson’s custom-made cart allows him to run and play, despite losing his front legs.

We were heartbroken and out of options. Willie went home to spend a last night with his foster family and we planned to put him to sleep the next day.

That night was pretty depressing at our house. For four months, we had worked with Willie and it was devastating to lose him. I asked my husband, “What if we buy him a custom-made cart?” I talked to Brandon and Chase the next morning and they agreed to adopt Willie if we would purchase the cart. We worked with an awesome company called, “Eddie’s Wheels,” which gave us a shelter discount and built him a cart in just two weeks.

Meanwhile, after talking to Brandon and the people at Eddie’s Wheels, we decided to amputate his broken leg as he would never use it and we didn’t want it to be a source of pain for him.

Willie is still adjusting to his cart but doing great. He is one of the happiest dogs I have ever seen, exhibiting a positive spirit every day of his trying journey.

Their lives are in our hands.

— By Dr. Lisa Levy, Aiken County Animal Shelter Veterinarian