Penny

Update July 2010

Many of you may recall the saga of Penny, the 5-lb Chihuahua who was hit by a car and then required to lie in Animal Control for 11 days with no medical attention whatsoever. Her story is on our website here, Penny . Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful supporters AND of people who we didn't even know, we were able to get Penny healthy again, and adopted into THE most wonderful home!

Well, Penny sent us a little note and a photo that we wanted to share with all of you! Thank you for helping us make this possible for Penny and her family!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m doing great. I’m a little bow-legged now but it makes my swagger tougher. I occasionally have a little tenderness in my leg but only rarely. Dad says he’s afraid the tenderness may be from the loose plate in my leg but they don’t want to operate on it unless absolutely necessary. As of about the first of June I’m beginning to wag my tail a little. I can run and keep up with the other dogs and love to wrestle. I can jump on the couch but the bed is a little too high so Mom bought me some stairs. Dad says I have all my muscle tone back in both rear legs. I can actually climb stairs faster than a couple of my brothers and sisters. Mom lets me sleep plastered to the side of her under the covers. Life is good.

This is me, BEFORE I got well and was trying to learn to walk again.

This is Me, NOW!!

Previous Update

Well, look at our little girl now!

Penny is feeling sooo much better and has pretty much recovered from the surgery to repair her leg.

However, the surgery result wasn't what we had hoped it would be - which was to affix the two broken parts of her leg together so that it would heal properly, enabling Penny to have only a slight limp and not much else to deal with as a result of the accident.

Instead, the pin that was put in place to help hold things together poked through the skin the very next day after surgery. Back to the vet where the protruding portion of the pin was clipped away. Little did we know that apparently one of the screws had also come out of the plate that was surgically placed to hold the two portions of the break together so that it would heal properly.

After waiting the allotted time for healing, Penny went back to the clinic for total removal of the pin and to be spayed. An x-ray was done at that time, and the malfunctioning plate was discovered. As you can see, the screw is totally separated from the plate and the break looks the same as in the initial x-ray. Very Frustrating! That long tail-looking thing is the pin, and that WAS removed. However, the plate and screw remain.

So, at the end of last week, we took Penny to see an Orthopedic Specialist who examined the leg. His conclusion is that while we don't have what we hoped as far as a straight leg, we do have a happy dog who is in no pain and who is beginning to put more and more weight on that leg.  He felt that putting her through MORE surgery to remove the useless plate and screw would be unnecessary unless her little body begins to reject those foreign objects.

He felt that putting Penny under sedation again (she stopped breathing during the pin removal and spay surgery) to re-break the leg and secure it properly would be a lot to put her through, given the fact that she's adapting pretty well to the leg in its current condition.   She would have to start recovery anew; and it seems so unfair to ask her to go through all of that again.   He said that given the progress we see now, he feels we should just hold onto what we've got and see if Penny continues to improve.

Her foster parents report that while she still walks on her front tippy-toes a bit, she is using the leg more and more every day, and they can tell the atrophied muscles in that leg are beginning to fill out again.   Penny is playful, sweet and oh, so happy to be alive!

One thing we are VERY please about is that the original vet's prediction that Penny would never be able to lift or wag her tail was wrong!   Here are some recent pictures of her...Just look at this happy tail!   =) And, look how quickly her coat is growing back!

I met her personally for the first time after her visit to the Orthopedic Vet,

and I was shocked at how tiny she is!

She looks much bigger in her pictures than she really is!

However, she HAS gained a pound and is now a whopping 6 pounds! =)

Here she is meeting our biggest foster, Buck, for the first time.

His HEAD weighs more than all of little Penny!

Buck says, OK, WHATEVER... Get her off!

Penny is almost ready to go on the site for adoption.   She has been fully vaccinated, spayed, and she tested negative for heartworms. Of course, she has been receiving regular heartworm prevention. She is housetrained, gets along well with other dogs (likes the small ones best!), but please understand that she may be a little bit spoiled!   She LOVES to be held, and we will be looking for a home who will pick up where we leave off in the spoiling department.

Words really can't express how much we appreciate the outpouring of help that came to Penny's cause!   We are more than a little disappointed with the outcome of the surgery, but those things happen sometimes.   The important thing is that Penny doesn't seem to mind in the least!  She's so ready to get on with living - and this time, in a safe and loving home who will understand what a special little dog she is!

We are supremely grateful to you, and Penny is, too!   Here is a kiss that she would give each of you who helped her after her awful ordeal with the car and then in animal control - if only she could!

Without you, she would have been lost forever, and that would have been a true tragedy!

Penny is a Treasure! Our little dog with the loose screw!!! =)

THANK YOU FOR HELPING PENNY!

Marilyn Kinney, Chairman
Baytown Humane Society
www.BaytownHumaneSociety.org

"Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight."
Albert Schweitzer

Penny's Story from the Beginning

Please meet, Penny, a young, five-pound Chihuahua mix who was hit by a car late one evening about three weeks ago. If being hit by a car wasn't bad enough, a series of unfortunate events precluded Penny from receiving any vet care for about 11 days. Penny was relinquished to Baytown Humane Society, and taken to the vet to have her injuries evaluated.

X-rays reveal that little Penny has a badly broken pelvis... broken in five places. Also, she has a really awful break in her left rear leg; and, the first vertebrae at the top of her tail is irreparably crushed, rendering her tail devoid of feeling and motionless forever. Thankfully, x-rays indicate that no major organs were punctured or injured except for bruising.
Here are pictures of Penny's x-rays indicating the extent of her broken bones. Because the pelvis is badly broken, particularly at the hip joint, you can see how out-of-alignment it is, and the break in the left rear leg is painfully obvious. Surgeries to repair this damage are terribly expensive and we are asking for your help.

Here are some pre-surgery photos of Penny in her foster home the day before surgery..

Because Penny was in a such pain with her injuries left untreated for nearly two weeks, she learned to walk on her front legs to take the weight off her pelvis and back legs. Here she is before surgery 'walking' across the grass to find a place to potty.

Her broken leg required a plate as well as a pin to secure it enough for proper healing. An incision was made to realign and put screws in the worst break of the pelvis, but it was discovered that, because of delayed care, the pelvis had begun to fuse in its broken position. The decision was made NOT to break it again since all five breaks had begun to heal in that position. So, little Penny will always be a little crooked in her stance, but this isn't expected to cause any problem for her mobility or ability to play and enjoy life.

Home from the vet clinic...

Catching a few rays the day after surgery....

She can stand, now; but still does her walking on her front legs!

Please help us deal with the extraordinary costs involved in saving this precious little dog. Throughout the whole ordeal, Penny has shown only gratefulness and given kisses rather than growls even though she was in tremendous pain. She Loves people and wants only to be in the presence of kind humans. Her vet bills have hit BHS hard in an already lean financial year. Please contribute a few pennies for Penny's recovery! Your gift is tax deductible! Any amount will be gratefully received and will help so much!

Watch for updates on Penny's progress. We will continue her story throughout the recovery; and hopefully, she will quickly find a wonderful home with a family who will love her for the sweet, spunky little girl we have come to know!

THEN, she will be a Lucky Penny!