Athenas road to recovery

2020 has not been the best year, even for the best puppy in the world. Meet Athena, she is a 9-month-old pure bread Rottweiler. After seeing her just once, we fell in love.  She was the runt of her litter, and sadly was not dealt with the best hand. Athena was 8 weeks old when we first got her, and she is the purest most lovable puppy I have ever owned. There is nothing she loves more than to play at the dog park with all of her dog friends. Athena isnot your stereotypical Rottweiler, she does not have one mean bone in her body. She loves everyone and anyone that gives her pets, she loves her pup cups from the coffee shops, and lastly, she loves her morning cuddles! The first couple weeks of having her, we realized she has an issue with her left eye. Come to find out, she has a genetic issue called iris hypoplasia. What this means is her iris in her left eye developed abnormally, and her iris sphincter muscles did not develop so her pupil is large and cannot constrict and control the amount of light going into her left eye. There is no surgical procedure to fix this problem, so she wears her rex specs while she plays outside. One afternoon we were playing outside as Athena was running, she cried very loud and began to limp. She continued to cry and therefore we took her to the vet. After taking her to the vet and getting x-rays, and CT scans done, we found out that she has Bilateral elbow dysplasia, and right hip dysplasia. They told us Athenas best option was to get the procedures done as soon as we can because this will lead to arthritis and worsen her condition. They gave us an estimate of about $4,000 a leg on just the surgeries, not including her rehabilitation. In the meantime, Athena struggles to get up, she constantly cries every time she moves, and she continues to limp. This restricts her from long walks, playing outside with her best friends, and minimizes her daily activity. As you can imagine, as a puppy Athena is very rambunctious and is very restricted because of the pain she is in. As college students we’ve done the best we can to provide Athena with everything a regular puppy would need or want, but this was unpredictable, and we cannot afford the surgeries. We love our puppy and want to provide her a pain free life. We set up this page for her surgeries, medications, and rehabilitation that she will need in the very near future. We would be so grateful and thankful to anyone that can help Athena. Whether it may be through funds or any medical feedback. Once our goal is met, we will precede with the surgeries and keep everyone updated in her recovery and rehabilitation. Please help keep the sweetest girl in the world pain free.