Hey tripod lovers! I just wanted to give you a few updates. Lulu is doing great! She's still trucking, though since her 14th birthday this May she's been slowing down a little bit -- but hey, aren't we all!
We recently sent some money out to an owner in need and I wanted to give you the details on where your generous donations are going. This time, $1,500 went to help Jean and Hayley.
Jean adopted Hayley from a woman in
Kentucky who runs a shelter for unadoptable dogs. The woman had come across
someone dumping a litter of Pyrenees pups on the roadside, so the angel that she is,
she took them in. Jean flew down to Tennessee and
drove to Kentucky to pick up one of the pups, and with little Hayley in the back seat, she made her way back
home to New Jersey.
When Hayley was nine months old, Jean noticed her limping a bit. She took her in to the vet for a look and was told that Hayley may have
dysplasia and confirmed the bad news after x-rays. Jean opted to have her hip replaced but needed to clear up a
recurring ear infection she had before they would operate. While she
tangled with her ear, Hayley blew out the other hip and needed emergency
surgery, so she had the right hip replaced and waited for that to heal
before going ahead with the originally planned surgery on her left hip.
Naturally, because her left hip had been out of place for some
time, it was a difficult surgery, and the implant did not stay in
place. Hayley needed a second surgery to stabilize the hip and
subsequent to that surgery, she developed a seroma at the surgical
site. The seroma developed an infection, which proved to be a very resistant strain of e coli, and the infection spread to her implant and
the surrounding bone. The surgeon tried removing the implants, but couldn't get all of the cement out. He suggested either amputating her
leg or trying to get the rest of the cement out at a future date. Jean
opted for the latter, but after two days the infection got worse and
she had developed a high fever so Jean rushed her back to have her leg
amputated. She is still on antibiotics to make certain that there is no
remaining infection, but her hospitalizations and medications have
totaled over $20,000. "As I live and breathe, I never thought I would
ever spend that much money on a dog in my life," Jean told me. "But each time I thought
that surgery would be the last, and as I said before, the alternative
just wasn't something I was willing to consider."
Unfortunately, on top of all this Jean lost her job in December."The upside of that is
that I have been able to be home with Jean and care for her, and if I
had been working, I don't know how I would have managed, so there is a
bright side to that as well."
Obviously Jean and Hayley need some help. We were able to give them a small chunk, but if you would like to donate some money directly to Jean please
email me and I'll send you her info.
If we all just give a few bucks we can really make a difference.
Oh and to tug your heart strings even more, Jean told me, "As soon as I realized what a great temperament Jean had, I had plans to
train her as a therapy dog. She was in her puppy classes when she was
first diagnosed. Everything has been put on hold, but I still want her
to be a therapy dog, and as soon as she is a little more steady on her
feet, we'll get back into training." A tripod therapy dog! Who could resist.