Originally Posted by Fuzzywug  A couple of weeks ago I was called about a 5 pound, 5 year old, male yorkie mix with luxating patellas, who was picked up as a stray and was going to be euthanized in the morning. I took him in on Sunday and Monday morning we were at the vet's office. The patella problem was obvious, he holds one leg up when he walks, but he also had uncontrollable, violent sneezing.
The sneezing was diagnosed as nasal mites (I'd never heard of that before) and he was given a shot of ivectin, and needs to be followed up with 2 more shots.
The vet was shocked by the condition of his legs and said it was the worse he'd ever seen, but couldn't be sure of what could be done until he was ex-rayed.
The ex-rays showed that right leg did have a grade 4 luxating patella, the left was a different story. His leg is deformed. The bones have curved outward, there is no groove in the knee and the tibial crest is turned about 90 degrees. The vet went into what he would have to do to try to correct it.
That would consist of cutting wedges out of the upper and lower leg, then piecing them together with metal plates and screws, repositioning the tibial crest and creating a groove in the upper and lower bones to create a knee. He's never heard of anyone doing such radical surgery on a leg this small before and wasn't sure if it would work. That sounds too drastic to me, and experimental.
I asked about other options. He said: repair the right luxating patella and amputate the left leg at the knee, just repair the right luxating patella, or just amputate the left leg. He was so excited - he kept saying it would be such a "challenge" to do this surgery and rebuild the leg!
Of course my next question was cost! With the "generous" 10% rescue discount, the fees are:
The "challenge" with a chance that it would work $3,500
Repair luxating patella 1,200 - $1,400
Amputate left leg 900
Put him to sleep ?? not an option in my mind
I can tell you without hesitation that this is a happy, for the most part - healthy little boy. He loves to eat, he can jump, run and play with all my dogs. Yesterday he had Bodie in a chase and it was shocking to see how fast he can run. Beyond that - he's the sweetest, gentlest little creature and still has the face of a puppy. I don't see any signs that he's in pain, except when I bathe him and put pressure on his hip. Oh, and he does something I've never seen before - he puts his head straight up and does a soft howl at the dog on the other side of the fence - you can't imagine how cute it is to see. Because of that I've been calling him Kyo (short for coyote). He asks for nothing but love.
I told the vet (I've been going there for 7 years) that it was a tough one and that the "challenge" was out of the question....... all the time thinking to myself........ climbing Mt. Everest is a challenge and people pay big money to risk their lives. How can you ask my rescue to pay for you to take on a "challenge" that IF successful would further your career and reputation? How much would it actually cost you to do this, how much time would it take out of your busy life to do any of the options to give this little boy a chance? He must have read my mind because he looked right in my eyes and said: "Trish, this is the real world."
My point? There is no point. No one ever said rescue would be easy. Sadly, I've realized that this is the real world. I've called every vet and every clinic in the area and no one else is willing to give a discount for rescue. I'm not angry but I am disappointed ---- in humans.
Thanks for reading......... and most of all........ thanks for caring.
Best regards,
Trish
Yorkie Rescue Colorado |