Please Help Us Save Ginger's Leg!
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Facebook Post about Ginger - if TLTR
On December 4th, my husband and daughter came home from school and let our 9 month old sibling puppies, Gingersnap and Butterscotch, out into our fenced and gated yard to play. Somehow, Ginger got out of our yard and had wandered over in front of the neighbor's house. A few minutes later, another neighbor pulled into our driveway to tell my husband that one of our dogs was laying on the side of the road and bleeding. She'd been hit by a vehicle, and whoever hit her didn't leave any skid marks and then didn't even stop! She was awake and suffering when my family got to her.
My husband and 2 daughters rushed her to the emergency vet hospital, where I met them and got a chance to see the damage for myself. My poor puppy was laying on the table, surrounded by vet techs and my family too, bleeding profusely from her legs and drooling in pain. After they were able to take x-rays, it was found that one of her hip joints was broken and her other one was dislocated. Her right foot was badly degloved and had crushed toes, and her left ankle had horrible road rash down to the bone and was missing about 35% of the skin as well. She'd also need to have a large laceration on her leg stitched up.
Our wonderful vet was able to stitch up the laceration in her left leg, but the bone injuries were more than they were equiped to deal with. The sent us to a specialist in Stockton, over an hour away, who took a look at Ginger's injuries and the xrays from our other vet. Fortunately she has no internal injuries, but the vet told us that the surgery to repair her broken hip and the dislocated one is going to cost in excess of $5500. This is in addition to the $1060 bill we had at the emergency vet.
On Thursday, December 7th, Ginger had surgery to fix her broken leg, where the Dr. used 3 pins to reconnect the bones. He took a look at the injuries to her ankle and other foot, cleaned them up as best he could, and rebandaged them. When we visited her on Friday, she was laying in a kennel but perked right up when she saw us and tried repeatedly to get up, even though her right leg was still dislocated and she had just had surgery on the other. We gave her lots of love and stayed until the vet tech had to (gently) kick us out.
We visited her again on Tuesday, December 12th and she was already feeling good enough to put weight on her broken leg! Her spirits were good and she was in a very licky mood! The doctor said she seemed to be feeling better and had originally planned to take another look at her foot on Monday, and then again on Tuesday, but decided it would be best to sedate her in order to remove her bandages, so he wasn't able to schedule that until the next day. He called us while she was still under anesthesia with our options:
1) Make an appointment at UC Davis to see if their skin specialist thinks we can save most of her foot with skin grafts.
2) If the foot can't be saved, see if UC Davis might be able to accomodate her with a prosthetic foot or lower leg.
3) Amputate the entire hind leg.
I will update as soon as we know more. Heading up to UC Davis tomorrow, December 14th.
I know this is a lot to spend on what some folks might consider to be "just an animal", but Ginger is a beloved member of our family and her sister Butters has been so lost and lonely without her. We want her to be able to live a good long life and be whole and healthy again! So, please, I know things are tight financially for a lot of folks this holiday season, but if you can spare a little to help us cover these medical bills for our sweet puppy Ginger, the whole family would really appreciate it! Thank you! <3
On December 4th, my husband and daughter came home from school and let our 9 month old sibling puppies, Gingersnap and Butterscotch, out into our fenced and gated yard to play. Somehow, Ginger got out of our yard and had wandered over in front of the neighbor's house. A few minutes later, another neighbor pulled into our driveway to tell my husband that one of our dogs was laying on the side of the road and bleeding. She'd been hit by a vehicle, and whoever hit her didn't leave any skid marks and then didn't even stop! She was awake and suffering when my family got to her.
My husband and 2 daughters rushed her to the emergency vet hospital, where I met them and got a chance to see the damage for myself. My poor puppy was laying on the table, surrounded by vet techs and my family too, bleeding profusely from her legs and drooling in pain. After they were able to take x-rays, it was found that one of her hip joints was broken and her other one was dislocated. Her right foot was badly degloved and had crushed toes, and her left ankle had horrible road rash down to the bone and was missing about 35% of the skin as well. She'd also need to have a large laceration on her leg stitched up.
Our wonderful vet was able to stitch up the laceration in her left leg, but the bone injuries were more than they were equiped to deal with. The sent us to a specialist in Stockton, over an hour away, who took a look at Ginger's injuries and the xrays from our other vet. Fortunately she has no internal injuries, but the vet told us that the surgery to repair her broken hip and the dislocated one is going to cost in excess of $5500. This is in addition to the $1060 bill we had at the emergency vet.
On Thursday, December 7th, Ginger had surgery to fix her broken leg, where the Dr. used 3 pins to reconnect the bones. He took a look at the injuries to her ankle and other foot, cleaned them up as best he could, and rebandaged them. When we visited her on Friday, she was laying in a kennel but perked right up when she saw us and tried repeatedly to get up, even though her right leg was still dislocated and she had just had surgery on the other. We gave her lots of love and stayed until the vet tech had to (gently) kick us out.
We visited her again on Tuesday, December 12th and she was already feeling good enough to put weight on her broken leg! Her spirits were good and she was in a very licky mood! The doctor said she seemed to be feeling better and had originally planned to take another look at her foot on Monday, and then again on Tuesday, but decided it would be best to sedate her in order to remove her bandages, so he wasn't able to schedule that until the next day. He called us while she was still under anesthesia with our options:
1) Make an appointment at UC Davis to see if their skin specialist thinks we can save most of her foot with skin grafts.
2) If the foot can't be saved, see if UC Davis might be able to accomodate her with a prosthetic foot or lower leg.
3) Amputate the entire hind leg.
I will update as soon as we know more. Heading up to UC Davis tomorrow, December 14th.
I know this is a lot to spend on what some folks might consider to be "just an animal", but Ginger is a beloved member of our family and her sister Butters has been so lost and lonely without her. We want her to be able to live a good long life and be whole and healthy again! So, please, I know things are tight financially for a lot of folks this holiday season, but if you can spare a little to help us cover these medical bills for our sweet puppy Ginger, the whole family would really appreciate it! Thank you! <3
Organizer
Stacy Cuccia
Organizer
Mountain Ranch, CA