Urgent Care for Abby Dog: Overcoming Tragic Gunshot Wounds

Abby’s Story

Update 9/22

We need your help!

This girl is on the move! It is absolutely incredible how far Abby has come. She is up and walking everywhere. While we are so exited about her regained mobility, it is unfortunately coming with a bad side effect. She has developed a pressure sore on the top of her back right foot because she knuckles over (walks and stands on the top part). We have tried various methods to correct this, including trying to build our own splint. At the end of the day, we have been unsuccessful in our homemade attempts and it is time to call in the experts. This of course means more cost. I spoke with a splinting company out of Austin and they are willing provide Abby with a custom splint at a discount for $750. I have another company in Canada that will get back to me on cost, but it will probably be the same or more. This is where you come in. As soon as we can raise the money we can order the splint and get it here in about 2 weeks.

Instagram short version- Abby needs a brace for her back leg and needs to be spayed soon. Long version on my Facebook.

Why is this important? Abby is walking, but without proper splinting, she will continue to walk on the top part of her right foot and exacerbate the painful pressure wound leading to possible infection and amputation. She is also putting unnatural stress on her hock and knee creating strains on her tendons and ligaments. When she sits, her right leg extends out behind her instead of facing forward. We have come so far with her recovery and the Exosome treatment you helped her get has done a miracle. We plan to continue with physical therapy and would like to start aquatic therapy once her wound heals. Her vet is very impressed with her progress and highly recommends the brace to further her improvement and prevent further injury. We have reduced the daily medication to two pills twice a day, but have added an antibiotic to counter possible mastitis (she had recently had puppies that were never found) and prevent an infection in her foot. She has two masses in her nipples that the vet wants to remove when we spay her. She would like to do that in the next month or so. The great news is she is heartworm negative!!

Please share Abby’s Story. You can give through her GoFundMe, Venmo, or by contacting her vet or physical therapist directly (Veterinary Medical Center of Athens and Pawsitive Impact Rehabilitation). If you would like to donate specific items, she needs enrichment toys like wooden chews, wet food (we top her dry food with it), and wound care supplies. You can follow her story on my Facebook or Instagram.

Update 8/22/24

Abby has made so much improvement over the past few weeks! She is regaining her bowel and bladder continence and is now squatting to urinate! She has so much more energy and stands up to move instead of scooting on her belly. Her back left leg is fairly functional and her back right leg is trying. It still “knuckles” under when she walks and hyper extends back when she sits. The Exosomes Treatment and continued therapy are working wonders!

Current needs:

Our family found this sweet girl on 6/29/24 on the side of our ranch road, and we assumed she had been hit by a car. As we learned more via neighbors and the vet, she had been on the side of the road, in the Texas heat, since 6/24/24 AND had been shot by both pellets and a larger caliber gun. X-rays revealed multiple bullets and fragments throughout her body. The vet pulled a pellet out of the top of her head. She was unable to use her back legs very well and was incontinent. The vet said the bullet hit her vertebrae causing fractures, which is causing a lot of swelling and possible damage to the spinal cord. We have her on a bunch of medicine to reduce pain, swelling, and infection. She was improving, starting to stand and walk more, and showing very little signs of pain.

On July 24th, she took a turn for the worse and the vet visit revealed increased swelling around her spine and a big infection. He added more pain meds and a different antibiotic. We are not sure what caused this change, but we are working to find the best path forward. We had a very generous donor willing to cover a large portion of an Exosomes treatment, a derivative of stem cells containing no human DNA. We were able to administer this treatment on Sunday July 28th and now have a long few weeks ahead of us as it takes affect. She will need a lot of physical therapy, additional medication, and if possible, a neurology appointment

We are taking her to the Veterinary Medical Center of Athens and started physical therapy with Pawsitive Impact Rehab at their rescue rate. We are more than happy to foster her, care for her, and love her for as long as she is healing and a treatment option is reasonable. So far we have spent about $2900 on medical, supplies, and food.

We don’t know much about this pup’s history. We know she is about 2 years old, but her body and old scars do not show an easy life. She recently had puppies and I hate to think of their fate. Yet this dog has been nothing but sweet and gentle through the whole process of rescue. We brought her back to Dallas and she is loving city life. She gets so happy when she sees us and loves the attention she is getting. She gets along great with kids and our dogs. She does an adorable teeth chatter of excitement when she is happy and does her best to get up to come to us. I am not sure what kind of human would dump and shoot a dog, but I can tell you what they deserve.

At the end of the day none of this may work, her injuries may be too extensive, but I could not leave this girl on the side of the road and I certainly could not just put her down without her knowing what love is. She has a will to live and sweetly soaks in every bit of attention. We are committed to showing her love for as long as she is alive, however long that may be.

Thank you for anything and everything!

Meredith and Chris Kirkscey