Skip to main content

Callie the Wonder Dog and her unbendable front legs

At the start of last week our whole family jumped in the car and drove to the airport to pick up our newest family member Callie, an 8 week old Bull Arab x Staffy puppy. We found her through the amazing PetRescue website where she was listed by the organisation SAFE (Save Animals From Euthanasia). She was located in Albany and so she was put on a plane and flown to us. We had seen pictures of her (obviously) and we were quite smitten by this beautiful little girl before we even met her, but once we met her in person we all fell completely in love with her! Well everyone except 4 year old Jack Russel x Maltese Shitzu, Bella.

To begin with she was shy and placid and absolutely adorable! After a few days of getting used to her new family and her new home she came out of her shell! She is still placid and adorable but is now much more playful. She is the sweetest natured puppy I have ever met, and just loves to cuddle and snuggle!

Then on Monday we noticed she was holding her front left paw a bit funny, we thought maybe she had hurt it playing and decided to keep an eye on it over night and the next day. The following morning she was still holding it funny and had begun to limp slightly. I noticed her limping get worse through out the day and when the Husband Shaped Person returned home from work I told him I thought we needed to take her to the Vet. Not realising the Vet was open until 7pm we resolved to take her the following morning.

On Wednesday the Vet took one look at her and said she had a genetic defect which caused the bones in her legs to grow at different rates. He said he had seen it before and that if left untreated her legs would continue to turn outwards until she became a cripple and could no longer walk. He said he knew of cases where it became so bad that the dogs had to be put down. He told us he was going to fit splints to her front legs to help keep them straight while her bones grew and this would hopefully fix the problem.

We had to leave her at the vets to have the splints attached and as we were walking out to the car we both turned to each other and said "she's not being put down!". In just over a week Callie has become an intrinsic part of our family and we will do anything we can to help her through this.

Sadly Callie's 5 brothers and sisters may also have the same genetic defect and upon talking to SAFE Albany I have discovered that none of the other puppies have yet been adopted. They will all be taken to the vet today to get checked out but they may not yet be showing the physical symptoms of the defect. If the puppies can't be found homes with people who understand that they may need a lot of medical care, and they do in fact have the genetic defect then Mikaela from SAFE Albany will have to try and pay for treatment on all of the puppies affected.

And so I finally come to my point, if you feel you have the love and resources to adopt a puppy that may need extra medical treatment then please contact me at its.me.tif@gmail.com and I can put you in touch with Mikaela. Also if you would like to make a monetary donation to help us with Callie's treatment we would be so grateful as we are not a rich family by any means but will do everything we can to help our beautiful girl (please click the donate button over on the right) Any money we receive that is above and beyond what Callie needs for treatment will be donated to SAFE to help them continue the amazing work they do.


Callie the Wonder Dog

Very curious!

Sleeping after a hard day of being a puppy

With her new splints

Trying to find a comfortable way to sleep

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for taking the time to comment!

Popular posts from this blog

Week One... Or Should I Say Week Two Thousand One Hundred and Seventy Nine...

 That's how many weeks I have been alive (give or take a couple of days). Two thousand one hundred and seventy-nine. Yet here I am still fighting the same fights I have always fought. Self-image, self-acceptance, unrelenting standards, imposter syndrome.  Once again I find myself in a body that feels uncomfortable and unhealthy. It crept up on me slowly and suddenly all at the same time. I still barely eat any refined sugar. I turn down the lollies and cakes and doughnuts at work. It's not even a struggle, I no longer enjoy the way sugar makes my body feel. But my old nemesis, potato chips, remains undefeated. I eat potato chips to fill the emptiness in my soul. To feel as miserable physically as I do mentally or emotionally. To get comfort from an association with my childhood. It is the struggle I can't overcome. The war I can't win. So after months of trying on my own to no avail, months of the scales not budging, I have signed up for a healthy eating plan. I'm n
2 comments
Read more

World Domination and the Darkness

"Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?" "The same thing we do every night Pinky -  try to take over the world!" Two things are clear to me , I love that cartoon and Brain never suffered from depression. You see it's much easier to try to take over the world if you don't have to use every ounce of motivation and determination in your body to get out of bed each morning. If Brain had suffered from depression it is likely he may have given up his plan after the first failure. For even the smallest hurdle can, to a depressive, seem like an insurmountable barrier. Now don't get me wrong, there are lots of depressed people who have achieved all sorts of amazing things. World domination while depressed is not completely impossible its just a hell of a lot harder. Before people start accusing me of being a whiner and making excuses I would first ask those people a) do you currently have or have you ever depression? and b) can you shut your stupid
7 comments
Read more

Unsent Letter: Dear Broken Little Girl

Dear Broken Little Girl You've got the world fooled. With your masks and your costumes. With the illusion you have created. I'm not fooled anymore, I see who you truly are. I see the little girl terrified of revealing any weakness or cracks. The little girl who uses people for what they can do for her and then casts them aside until she needs them once more. I used to look at you and think you were so much more than me, that I was so much less. Now I realise that you will never be as much as me. Not until you are willing to be wrong, to be imperfect, to be fragile and vulnerable and human. Anybody can do what you do, yet you doubt my ability. You think you are so grown up and in control, but you're not. Everything you stand against, you have been. Everything you fight for, you've never endured. You are an empty shadow trying to fill yourself up at the expense of others. You once told me that I should learn to put myself first and say no. Well I've learnt. I
Post a Comment
Read more