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Hard-luck Saluki may get a new leg
By Gina Spadafori
June 28, 2007
From the Coloradan (Fort Collins):
Veterinarians at Colorado State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital have treated beloved pets of rock stars, famous athletes and Army generals. Now they are about to treat a canine whose background is a bit more humble.
Sally, a stray saluki from Kuwait who is missing her left hind leg, arrived from the Middle East on Wednesday morning.
After being rescued from the side of the road by an animal rights group, the dog was flown to the CSU veterinary teaching hospital where she is now a candidate for a state-of-the-art prosthetic procedure that has never been performed at the school before.
“No one has done this exact thing. We could see some real exciting things coming,” said Dr. Erick Egger, who will attempt to outfit Sally with a prosthetic leg that is implanted in her bone rather than attached externally to her leg stump.
The treatment will not only benefit Sally, but could further the research of CSU veterinarians in the field of animal prosthetics, an area of difficulty due to animals’ tendency to chew prosthetics.
Related to nothing at all, I would live in Fort Collins if I could get my family to cooperate by moving there, too.
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Fort Collins is beautiful. My brother and his wife lived there for many years and recently moved to Utah. Then my sister lived in Colorado Springs and I must say walking in the “Garden of the Gods” just about topped everything and anything else as far as beauty and Wowness - loved it all. I didn’t tour the area around Fort Collins much but old downtown is pretty nice. Only hear the best about the entire area.
Comment by Linda — June 28, 2007 @ 9:13 am
CSU is ranked No. 2 in the country as a vet school. The school is always looking for new treatments to help horses, dogs, cats, etc. Some of the new treatments then are applied to human medical problems.
No oceanfront for dogs to get a mud bath, however. The slower pace of town and people could be more comfortable for you, nontheless.
Another matter—this website has been a great help to ease my anger about the poisoning that goes on in pet food because now I know that others have to deal with the same and even much worse than I had to endure. So many are actively trying to help make it better for pets.
Comment by Evelyn — June 28, 2007 @ 10:49 am
What am I missing here? Why does this dog have to get a prosthetic leg at all much less go through the pain of surgery? Dogs do well with missing limbs, particularly if it’s a hind. (They bear most of their weight on the fronts.)
Comment by Deanna — June 29, 2007 @ 6:00 am
You aren’t missing a thing, Deanna. The dog was a stray, and therefore has no owner to advocate for her. So she has been turned over to the vet school to be experimented on. She will be subjected to painful medical research, which will (perhaps) benefit humans but will not benefit dogs. It certainly won’t benefit the Saluki, who will suffer the painful price of the experimentation, even if the prosthesis works. As you correctly point out, the dog doesn’t need a prosthesis and would do quite well without one (see the recent post on this site, “A picture is worth a thousand words”). What kind of “animal rights” group turns a stray over to be experimented on?
Comment by Susan — July 1, 2007 @ 10:39 am
This would be such a Godsend for my dog, she is facing being put to sleep because of severe injury to her one good back leg. Her other hind leg was injured some time ago and she cannot bear any weight on it. So now we have to face the loss of my beloved little Dog because she will no longer be able to walk. She is to now facing amputation to her one good rear leg, but she will not be able to walk or support her hind quarters. A prosthesis like this could save her life and give her many happy years. Come on people, think before critising.
Comment by J Bullen — July 18, 2007 @ 7:49 am
J — you know even if your dog does lose the use of both rear legs he may do very well indeed in a dog wheelchair. A handful of companies make them now, and I’ve known several dogs who use them, quite happily.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 18, 2007 @ 7:52 am
Here’s a great site on one dog’s story:
http://www.wonderpuppy.net/copper/
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 18, 2007 @ 8:15 am
And J, I don’t know what breed your dog is, but corgis (one of my breeds) has a “cart loan” program for dogs needing a cart. May well be other such programs out there.
http://www.corgiaid.org/cart/
Comment by Schnauzer — July 18, 2007 @ 8:42 am
J Bullen:
At a dog event last year, I saw a dog that could not use its back legs and was strapped in a wheel chair and this dog was having a ball - running and romping with a big smile and tongue hanging out - was a joy to watch.
Comment by Jamie — July 18, 2007 @ 9:15 am
Having just had my dog endure a leg amputation(rear) at CSU, I’m currently wondering if it really was for him or for us. He’s only five and promises to have a longer life but he’s suffering pretty badly right now and seems to be a shadow of his former self. Time will heal the initial wound but I don’t know about his psyche - or ours…
Comment by Cindy in Erie — July 18, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
Cindy, check out Christie’s posts on her dog’s amputation. You’ll feel better knowing that others have struggled with this, too, and felt the decision was the right one in the end.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 18, 2007 @ 2:54 pm