Both Zeke and C.C. have been plagued with ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears in both knees resulting in surgeries.

Zeke's last ACL surgery left a traveling suture that was finally operated on to repair. Evidently the knot that was made in the original surgery had migrated to a location that perpetually irritated his mobility and caused him to chew at the site. Now that it is fixed, he is back to his old self, which isn't always calm and sedate. He is a prankster who enjoys teasing the humans who he is particularly fond of. This means little wolfy nibbles at rumps, knees or anything else available. We have threatened to put the knotted suture back on a number of occasions (just kidding of course).

C.C. has recovered well from her ACL surgeries and then was injured when one of our volunteers ran over her tail with a vehicle. There was damage done to her spinal column as she tried to yank herself free. For a while it appeared that she would not be able to eliminate either solid or liquid waste efficiently enough to allow an acceptable quality of life.

 

We decided to give her a chance even against the advice of vets at the CSU Teaching Hospital.After several days with a catheter that needed to be drained every few hours a cystostomy was performed. That surgery places a tube through the abdomen and directly into the bladder. It still required syringing urine from the bladder every few hours but evidently left less chance for infection.

Thank goodness we gave her the chance as she promptly set out to prove all of the experts wrong. When we brought her home from the cystostomy she immediately began urinating on her own and the problems with her anus also began clearing up. The cystostomy tube was removed after several days, however she began chewing at her tail. We were warned to anticipate this as, it is believed, that the strange sensation causes some sort of discomfort. Eventually we did end up doing two more surgeries that removed all of her tail.

She is now eliminating waste very effectively on her own and even her knees and hips seem to be doing better.

 

First a Thank You to the following people who donated items from previous lists. We appreciate your generosity, it helps keep cash for other expenses.

Pfizer Animal Health - Medications.
Mary Ann Strauch - 85 Ford F250.
Anonymous - 90 Chevy 1500.
Thomas Shideler - 5500 watt generator.
Armadillo Fencing - Chain link fence.
Sue Baumgard - Travel Kennel.
Alice Bevans - Snow Blower.
Jenny Smalling - Computer Scanner.
AT&T Broadband - Monitors/Printer.
Jerry/Sharon Sharp - Trailer hitch/ball.
Mountain Lakes Lodge - Lodging.
Jim Mittl - Computer Equip./Labor.
Steve Shaffer - Accounting help.
Melinda Wilson - Accounting help.
Eric Epperson - Slave work.

 

If you know of any sources for these items that can be contributed or acquired at a significant discount, please contact us.

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