Help Amber’s Bone Graft Surgery

Amber, our happy 11-month-old Dalmatian has been very unlucky. She’s still a puppy and yet has had a very difficult first year of her life.

At 6 months old Amber was diagnosed with a joint disorder called Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) on her left shoulder.

OCD is when cracks form in cartilage and the underlying bone. OCD is caused by blood deprivation which causes bone to die and be reabsorbed by the body, leaving cartilage it supported prone to damage. The result is fragmentation of both cartilage and bone, causing pain, lameness and further damage.

In September 2020 she had surgery on her shoulder to remove the fragmented cartilage, and she has been recovering well since. We had just got to the point where she was given the all clear to start exercising and running. She was so happy to be back outside and catching up on lost time being a puppy, but then just before Christmas she started to become lame on her right knee…

At 11 months old, Amber has now been diagnosed with OCD on her right knee and will need a bone graft due to the size and location of the defect she has.

It breaks my heart she has this disorder and is in so much pain as she has the kindest soul and is ALWAYS happy and wagging her tail no matter what - even when she is sat on the floor struggling to stand up because of the pain in her knee, her little tail is always wagging.

If all goes well with the surgery, it will then be a long recovery time of 6 weeks of bedrest followed by 6 weeks of extremely restricted movement, before we can even consider short leads.

So we are hoping by August 2021 we will be ready to start building Amber’s joints up, but this still sadly means out of the first 18 months of Amber’s life, she has only been in a pain-free puppy world for 4 months ☹

Unfortunately, our pet insurance will not cover this second surgery as we have reached the maximum amount of claims on our policy. We have been able to fund the amount needed for her x-ray and CT scan (£1,000) but we are struggling to be able to fund the remaining balance needed for the surgery itself (£5,700) and we are at the point where we need to please ask for help from anybody who is in a position to help.

We appreciate that this past year has been difficult and this year continues to be even more challenging, so we are aware that this really isn’t the best time to be asking for financial help!

Any support would be hugely appreciated, whether that is a donation or just sharing Amber’s story – thank you so much!