Broken Pelvis – WestieMed

Buddy

December 1, 2009December 26, 2020 by westiemed in Stories

My name is Buddy, and my story begins in September of 2009 when I ended up at the next-door neighbor’s house from my now new Mom. My owner didn’t want me anymore and decided to leave me there. They already had so many dogs that they wouldn’t let me in the house and so I stayed outside all the time. My fur was all matted and I ate only when one of the other dogs didn’t finish their dinner.

My new Mom could see that I wasn’t happy there and I was cold and shaking when the weather was bad. I also had fleas and ticks. So one day she came over and asked if she could have me. They were glad to give me to her since they couldn’t afford to feed me or get my yearly vaccinations.

Oh, life was good at my new home! I had my own bed, lots of food, a lap to lie on and new friends to play with. Only one afternoon, on November 20th a truck was driving up the driveway and I was playing with Quincy, my poodle friend while following the truck and I accidentally rolled under the truck and got hit!

Mom will tell you the rest of the story!!!

Yes, Buddy could not get up, but was still alive! I took him to my vet and he was in such shock and pain that they had to sedate him heavily before taking x-rays. Buddy had broken his pelvis in many places and on his right side it had shifted upward pressing against his bladder.

Needless to say, he had to be taken to a surgical clinic to have his hips pinned and on the other leg, remove the ball from the end of his bone because the socket in the hip joint was shattered. Also the lining of his bladder needed to be repaired.

Anyway, after eleven days at the hospital, he got to come home for recovery. That was on November 30^th, and now, as of December 16^th, he is walking on three legs at least with every 3^rd or 4^th step on his other back leg. So he is doing so well despite everything he’s gone through. He’s wagging that tail and talking up a storm and it’s so nice to see him with his sense of humor back.

I can’t believe I’ve been blessed with such a warm and loving dog such as Buddy, and I thank the WestieMed organization for all their kindness and support they have giving me during this time. Buddy is a lucky dog to have survived, but I am the lucky one to have acquired such a good friend and companion. And yes, he is the lapdog of lapdogs and we love every minute of it!!

Sincerely,
Paulette

Update December 31, 2009

Thank you so much and thank all the wonderful people for the check I received from WestieMed! I appreciate it so much and so does Buddy! This organization is so wonderful and so quick to respond!

Buddy is going back to the vet this morning for his checkup and they wanted to monitor his progress since he had so much damage. He’s doing quite well and is walking on one back leg, although he can move faster on just the 2 front legs… I have to hold him back using the harness so he can put some weight on the back legs to strengthen them. He is so quick though that it’s hard to keep him still, I guess that’s the Westie in him! What an attitude he has!! So loving!

Again, thank you for everything,
Paulette

Update June 9, 2010

I just wanted to give you an update on Buddy who you have helped in 2009. He is doing so well! I took him to his last and final visit to the vet last week 6/3/2010 and the vet was reluctant to say that he didn’t need to see him any longer to monitor his progress. He is doing that well! They just loved him so much and took such good care of him there and Buddy just enjoyed seeing them every month for his visit.

It’s been six months since his accident and he has recovered beyond belief! Again, thank you so much for all you have done to help us. It is so nice to know you are there not only for financial support but for moral support!

Paulette

Update July 5, 2010

I finally got to take some pictures of Buddy after he had a bath and a summer hair cut of course…he loves to play with his best friend Sadie, my yellow lab who is another rescue dog. Yes I know, she’s very well fed and eats like every meal is like her last one!

Buddy is doing great! He always walks on four legs and never picks that back left one up that I’ve seen for the past two weeks or so. It is a little shorter than the right one as you can see in the close-up. The pad of his foot doesn’t flatten out like the other, but that doesn’t seem to hinder him in any way, and he found out he can jump back up on the sofa and sit with me.

Although, he’ll still turn around for me to pick him up the way he used to when he was injured.

It tickles me because he doesn’t want to give up that coddling that he got, and so I still hold him as I used to and he looks at me with those big eyes like he’s saying “don’t forget, I’m still your baby!”

What a doll, what can I say, he’s the best!

Thanks again for all you have done.
Paulette and Buddy Wright

Update April 12, 2011

Thank you so much for inquiring about Buddy! He’s is just the joy in my life! I tell everyone he’s my $5,500 dog. Their jaw drops but he was worth every penny. I can now see how the accident happened. When he runs, he’s looking behind at who’s chasing him and not where he’s going. I’ve seen him run into walls, doors, and my other dogs…I’ve got to keep an eye on that guy…LOL. I love the way he talks!

He’s doing very well and you wouldn’t know that anything happened to him at all except his little left leg is a bit shorter, but that doesn’t slow him down at all! I will send you pictures although he hates to get his picture taken. When he sees the camera pointing at him he moves away…It’s so funny how they can sense things.

Again, I can’t thank you enough for your support,

Regards,
Paulette

Hope

February 1, 2008December 27, 2020 by westiemed in Stories

Hope got her name because from the first time someone found her, lying in the street, tire marks on her back, in shock and obvious pain from a broken pelvic bone, “hope” for her recovery was in short supply.

She was taken to the Boone County Animal Shelter in northern Kentucky where she was given some pain meds, but no other medical attention. At just eleven pounds, it had been left to this little Westie to make it all on her own — or not — while shelter workers waited for someone to claim her. They had to hold her for five long days that way, and during that time Hope wormed her way into the hearts of everyone she met. Her tenacity was incredible, her love of life undeniable. “If I didn’t have so many dogs already, I’d take her in a heartbeat,” a shelter worker said when she called me.

She said Hope could be claimed by Westie Rescue at 8 a.m. Saturday, January 5th, and at 8:10 a.m. I was there banging on the door. By 9:30, she was at my vet’s office, where x-rays showed a badly fractured pelvic bone, one that would require surgery to wire together.

The surgery took place on Monday, January 7th, and it required three and a half hours to put that little Humpty Dumpty Westie together again. But the surgery went well, and aside from pain pills and antibiotics, there was little to do but wait and allow the bones to mend during a long recovery.

Keeping an 18-month-old Westie quiet is a challenge in the best of times, but for a feisty little girl who obviously felt better day by day, it was a matter of ignoring loud barks and shrill demands for freedom at all hours of the day and night. Hope obviously felt that she had been crated long enough. There was a whole new world out there, and she wanted desperately to be part of it.

Hope - WestieMed Recipient February 2008 — Hope – WestieMed Recipient

It required patience all around, but eventually, it paid off. Hope’s fracture healed so well that within ten days she was walking almost without a limp and inciting play with my Westies. Weekly trips to the vet confirmed her progress.

During this period, a wonderful couple from Covington, KY, came to see her. They had been waiting for almost a year for just the right Westie to adopt, and when they saw Hope they knew they had finally found her. So on February 9th, five weeks after her ordeal began, Hope went to her forever home here her new family reports that she’s as happy, playful and loving a Westie as anyone could ever want.

Thankfully, WestieMed was there to help cover some of the cost of Hope’s extensive surgery, ultimately making this happy ending possible. Rescue groups such as ours occasionally encounter major cases such as Hope’s, where medical costs far outstrip our financial resources. This means that we are either forced to turn our backs on dogs like Hope because we can’t afford to care for them, or we care for them and then have no funds to care for the next two or three or four who come our way.

These are not happy choices, but thanks to WestieMed we don’t have to make too many decisions like that anymore. As a result, more and more Westies are given the chance to discover the meaning of “hope” for themselves.

Thanks, WestieMed!
West Highland White Terrier Club of Indiana

Update February 2, 2010

Hope is doing great! She is a happy, affectionate wonderful addition to our family. She has been joined by another rescue, Wiley, a black point brindle Cairn that we adopted in March of 2009 after losing our beloved Scottie, Shadow, to Crones Disease.

Wiley is about three years old so the two of them are great pals. They do everything together. I have attached a picture.

We are great Westie fans. Hope is actually my fourth Westie and I can’t imagine living without one. She is the queen of her dominion and lets us know if we are not giving her her due. Thank you for saving her and ultimately helping her to find her way to us. We are eternally grateful to you and to Carol for bringing us together.

Sally Younger
Louisville, KY

Jamie (Formally Duggan)

September 1, 2006February 6, 2021 by westiemed in Stories

September 2006:

Duggan (Now renamed Jamie) comes to Westie Rescue from a local animal shelter where we were informed that they had a Westie who had been hit by a car. After a bit of a delay in getting him into the program, the Westie Rescue of Northern Texas (WRNT) veterinarians took the time to accurately diagnose his issues. Clearly, Duggan/Jamie was limping badly and had suffered some kind of traumatic injury – but what?

Several x-rays later and some of the best veterinary minds in Dallas, it was discovered that he had broken his pelvis, not his leg, as had been previously thought. Unfortunately, these kinds of pelvic injuries are exceptionally difficult to heal, are very expensive, and require significant rehabilitation.

While it is the ONLY goal of Westie Rescue to rehabilitate and place Westies, our finances are limited. The difficult pelvis repair surgery was beyond our resources and outside our ability to gain funding to support. Fortunately, an alternate procedure, called a femoral head osteoectomy was available to us. In this alternative surgery, the head of the leg bone is removed, permitting the pelvis to heal. For Westies, there is sufficient musculature to support the leg without the femoral head, and the procedure was within our limited budget.

Duggan/Jamie underwent the FHO surgery like a champ. Duggan/Jamie is using his “bum-leg” more and more each day and is now taking physical therapy at the pool of one of the WRNT Directors. Our little Duggan/Jamie may have caught a “bad break” recently, but he sure came out of this one smelling like a rose.

With Many Regards, John Workman WRNT – Director

Update January 2008: Duggan now called Jamie

Jamie continues to strive and is just a remarkable little Westie boy 🙂

As his mum Darrell says, he’s a very “naughty” boy but she adores him. His mom is so thrilled with him and they keep in close contact with Westie Rescue. Thank you so very much for all your hard work with Westie Rescue. Elizabeth Escobar