Puppy Cuddles Knee Reconstruction
Donation protected
In March 2014 my chihuahua, Puppy Cuddles had an accident with another dog and ruptured his cruciate ligament. My local vet said the he needed a procedure where they use a suture to stabilise the knee. I saved the money to have the surgery done in April, but the procedure failed, so I paid for the surgery to be done again in May. But it failed a second time. I was so careful with him and he weighs less than 9lb or 4.3kg, I know he was not injuring himself. Why was the surgery not working?
In June I found a specialist Orthopedic surgeon who was brilliant, he told me why the previous two surgeries would never have worked. He said that Puppy Cuddles has bowed back legs and that the previous procedure that was done was incorrect for his anatomy. He drew me some sketches to explain how the insides of the knee work and where the sutures were breaking. He advised me that Puppy Cuddles needed the TPLO procedure but the surgery was twice as expensive, the recovery period was longer.
I had run out of money and even though I had taken up pet insurance in January of 2014, the claim ended up being rejected because I didn't have the insurance for long enough before Puppy Cuddles had the accident.
Fortunately the specialist surgery was able to give me a short term credit card loan to pay off the TPLO surgery procedure and I have paid some of it off but I still owe approximately $3000. I won't be able to pay it off because my wages don't stretch far enough to pay all of my bills.
Puppy Cuddles also has Pancreatitis and he can only eat Hills ID food which is more expensive than regular dog food. My financial situation has become such that I have started to sell things from around the house to try and keep the roof over our heads, but we may end up having to sell the house if I can't get the vet bills paid.
If anyone is able to help us, we would greatly appreciate it. Puppy Cuddles deserved a chance at life. I rescued him from an animal shelter in 2013 and he has become like a child to me. I promised to take care of him for the rest of his life and I will do everything possible to make him feel safe and loved and cared for. During the five months that Puppy Cuddles was recovering from surgery we cried together almost every day, he was in terrible pain, he would just about heal over 4-5 weeks, then he was back in surgery again. After the third surgery he ended up with a stomach ulcer from the anti inflammatory medication he had to take, and his pancreatitis made the ulcer worse. He went through so much pain, I thought he would be lucky to survive, but he made it.
Puppy Cuddles has an Instagram page called @mypuppycuddles if you would like to see how well he is doing now. Since the accident he doesn't have a meniscus in his knee (that's the squishy thing in your knee that stops the bones from scratching against eachother when you walk and run) because it was crushed in the accident, but he seems to be coping okay with walking a little each day and I have put soft mattresses down under the lounge so he never jumps down on to a hard surface. It has been a life changing experience for him.
Thank you for your kindness. We would love it if you visited our Instagram page to say hello.
In June I found a specialist Orthopedic surgeon who was brilliant, he told me why the previous two surgeries would never have worked. He said that Puppy Cuddles has bowed back legs and that the previous procedure that was done was incorrect for his anatomy. He drew me some sketches to explain how the insides of the knee work and where the sutures were breaking. He advised me that Puppy Cuddles needed the TPLO procedure but the surgery was twice as expensive, the recovery period was longer.
I had run out of money and even though I had taken up pet insurance in January of 2014, the claim ended up being rejected because I didn't have the insurance for long enough before Puppy Cuddles had the accident.
Fortunately the specialist surgery was able to give me a short term credit card loan to pay off the TPLO surgery procedure and I have paid some of it off but I still owe approximately $3000. I won't be able to pay it off because my wages don't stretch far enough to pay all of my bills.
Puppy Cuddles also has Pancreatitis and he can only eat Hills ID food which is more expensive than regular dog food. My financial situation has become such that I have started to sell things from around the house to try and keep the roof over our heads, but we may end up having to sell the house if I can't get the vet bills paid.
If anyone is able to help us, we would greatly appreciate it. Puppy Cuddles deserved a chance at life. I rescued him from an animal shelter in 2013 and he has become like a child to me. I promised to take care of him for the rest of his life and I will do everything possible to make him feel safe and loved and cared for. During the five months that Puppy Cuddles was recovering from surgery we cried together almost every day, he was in terrible pain, he would just about heal over 4-5 weeks, then he was back in surgery again. After the third surgery he ended up with a stomach ulcer from the anti inflammatory medication he had to take, and his pancreatitis made the ulcer worse. He went through so much pain, I thought he would be lucky to survive, but he made it.
Puppy Cuddles has an Instagram page called @mypuppycuddles if you would like to see how well he is doing now. Since the accident he doesn't have a meniscus in his knee (that's the squishy thing in your knee that stops the bones from scratching against eachother when you walk and run) because it was crushed in the accident, but he seems to be coping okay with walking a little each day and I have put soft mattresses down under the lounge so he never jumps down on to a hard surface. It has been a life changing experience for him.
Thank you for your kindness. We would love it if you visited our Instagram page to say hello.
Organizer
Diana Zivkovic
Organizer
South Stradbroke, QLD