Happy Tail: Lucy!

Everyone loves Lucy!

Ah, the contented relief accompanied by a bittersweet pang that comes along with saying goodbye to a foster. It's a very rewarding feeling, even though it's always tough to give that final backward glance as you leave the dog you cared for in the arms of another. It's a bit sad going through all the photos of Lucy and moving them into archival on our hard drive. People always ask how foster parents do it, how we let them go. We just do it. It's not always easy, but it's part of what you sign up for when you commit to fostering. And you know what, it's really not that bad. Right now, I'm relishing the feeling of accomplishment I have knowing that Lucy's leg is in good shape and that she's in a truly wonderful adoptive family. I'm taking deep breaths and enjoying the peacefulness of my own pack; we have a moment to ourselves for the first time in over a month. This is a special moment - the glow of a job well done and the closing of another chapter.

Lucy has a wonderful home. Her dad is retired, so she'll rarely have to be home alone. Her mom is head over heels in love with her and is super excited to have her own personal snuggle buddy. Lucy also has two canine sisters: Rosie (labradoodle) and Lucy (Rat Terrier). The three girls get along swimmingly and are going to have a blast romping around in the yard together. Lucy's dad keeps an aviary in the backyard and she is fascinated by the birds. Rosie is already excited about showing Lucy how to use the doggy door...she also thinks it's great fun to hide on the inside and ambush Lucy as she enters! She's going to have the greatest life. By the way, Lucy's leg is doing quite well. She's going to continue to gain strength playing with her sisters. She'll be full out running on all fours before long. She's also up to a full 15 pounds, hurray! No more skin and bones. I am so glad for her!

Aside from being our first California foster, Lucy is also our first local adoption. All of our previous fosters went to different states and are mostly scattered up the eastern seaboard. We've never actually met the adopters of any of our fosters until now. It's nice knowing she's just across the valley. Makes me sleep that much easier tonight. I'm a little nervous about how quickly she'll adjust and whether she'll have any separation anxiety, but hey - I just tell myself that if Pickles can do it, anyone can do it! I know she'll be in hog heaven with her sisters, her parents, and their wonderful yard in no time flat. We love this girl a whole lot and we'll certainly miss her. After all she's gone through I'm just so thrilled she finally has the "furever" she deserves. We love you, Lucy! Enjoy the good life, sweet pea.

To learn more about St. Francis Animal Protection Society and how you can help us continue to help animals like Lucy find their furever homes, click here: http://www.stfrancisanimal.org/

Pictorial Pupdate: We Love Lucy!

I know I just posted a pupdate about Lucy, but I wanted to save these gorgeous portraits for their own separate post. Talented photographer, Renee Scott, donates her time to St. Francis Animal Protection Society by holding portrait sessions for adoptable pets. What she captures through her camera lens is truly breathtaking. We took Lucy to Renee's home studio last weekend for her photo shoot. Even though Lucy still felt yucky from her surgery and didn't look her best (what with the scars, shaved fur, and skinny ribs still showing), Renee harnessed a few fine moments of Lucy's beauty. We at St. Francis are so grateful for her efforts. Somebody is going to see these photos of Lucy and scoop her right up once she's ready for adoption!

If you'd like to have a portrait session for your own pet, Renee is holding a limited time special benefiting St. Francis APS! During this special, creation fees will be $75 and include a one hour location shoot anywhere within 30 miles of South San Jose. Portrait packages start at $300. Dogs, cats, horses, and pretty much anything with fur are all welcome! Renee is happy to shoot at your home, at the park, at the beach, or anywhere that means something special to you and your pet. Her special runs from April 22 - April 26. Contact Renee at 901-497-0898 to schedule your session and be sure to mention St. Francis!

Find Renee Scott Photography on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Renee-Scott-Photographer/498072920250114

Check out Renee's website here: http://www.reneescott.com/

Pupdate: Lucy's FHO Recovery

Incision 1 day post-FHO (left) vs. 1 week post-FHO (right)

Here's a quick pupdate on Miss Lucy, now nicknamed Lucille when we're feeling fancy. Her FHO was one week ago today and she's recovering beautifully. I am always amazed by how smoothly and quickly dogs recover from FHO. We've been doing the little physical therapy exercises with her for a few minutes each day. It's simple stuff: rotating the hip like she's riding a bicycle and gently shifting her balance so she puts weight on the healing leg. After her surgery, she kind of let her leg just dangle while standing or walking. Yesterday I saw her stand firmly on all four feet when she was outside. Hurray! She's beginning to put a little bit of weight on it when she walks now, too. So that's great news. The incision looks awesome; Liza wasn't kidding when she said Dr. Scherrer is a suture wizard. He didn't even have to use staples. Check out the picture of how great it looks. Her spay site looks great, too. Dr. Tyson's incisions are always SO TINY, it's completely nuts. Lucy's is no exception; it's practically invisible. So all's well on the post-op front. Here's the link to my post about her surgery if you haven't seen it already: http://ohfortheloveofdogs.blogspot.com/2014/04/behind-scenes-lucys-fho.html

  

As for everyday life with Lucy, things are going quite well. Lucy is very much a part of our pack at this point. She knows the routine and is gaining more confidence each day. You'll remember I mentioned Lucy had pretty intense separation anxiety. She's improving. Although we finally gave up on crating her overnight (she sleeps in our bed now with us and the other three dogs, oye), she is learning to become more independent little by little. She definitely still prefers to be snuggled up on top of me whenever possible, but she no longer totally freaks out if I walk around the corner. She'll run right outside with the other dogs now when it's time to potty, whereas she used to insist one of us went outside

Catching some rays with foster mom

first before she'd follow. Occasionally I'll find her curled up in a dog bed or on the rug across the room rather than right under my feet. That's major improvement. She's learning how to be a dog. I credit my three dogs with guiding her through a lot of this. I find it's very helpful to have other pack members show a new dog the ropes and help them fall into routine. The new dog draws security and comfort from the confidence of the established dogs. By emulating their routine, Lucy is feeling more comfortable with each passing day. We're super proud of her. She's going to be a really great little pup for someone. Keep up the good work, Lucy! You've got this in the bag!

Behind the Scenes: Lucy's FHO

**Warning: this post is graphic. If you're squeamish and don't want to see surgery photos, just know that Lucy had her surgery and did very well.**

Lucy's x-ray showing pelvic and FH fractures

Today was an exciting, long, tiring, major day for me and Lucy. Our little lady beagle went in for her FHO surgery this morning! Brief refresher: Lucy got hit by a car and fractured the ball joint (femoral head) of her hip. FHO is where they remove the ball joint entirely, leaving behind a smooth-edged free-floating femur. San Jose Animal Care Center (the shelter where Lucy's from and where I volunteer) has a great partnership with a local veterinary specialty center called SAGE. The shelter arranged for a SAGE specialist to perform Lucy's FHO in-house at SJACC and I got to watch. How cool is that?! For those of you who may be wondering, the shelter has a special medical fund set aside for SAGE procedures that covers specialty surgeries like Lucy's. This reserve is funded by the City, by private donations, and by a special resource called Maddie's Fund (http://www.maddiesfund.org/). What does this mean? St. Francis covers Lucy's post-op care. The surgery and all associated costs are taken care of. That is huge for rescue, just huge. I am so impressed by SJACC's resources and the smart decisions they make with their funding. It's absolutely amazing. These people are going to get tired of hearing my broken record spiel about how awesome they are, I'm sure, but I can't help it. I have truly landed on a different planet. Confused? Check out my blog post from a couple weeks ago: http://ohfortheloveofdogs.blogspot.com/2014/03/san-jose-animal-care-center-breath-of_20.html

All scrubbed up for FHO!

Although I spent a preliminary observation day in the vet clinic last week, today was my first day officially volunteering back there. I saw SO much stuff last week, it blew my mind. In a mere four hours, I watched 14 spays/neuters, an enucleation, ear tippings on feral cats, dental cleanings and extractions, a punch biopsy, removal of a surprise dead kidney during a routine spay, dental x-rays, and all kinds of other stuff. I'd never seen a surgery before, so this was a huge deal for me. I got lightheaded briefly during the first two spays, but was totally fine after that. It was weird to have a physiological response despite not feeling squeamish or bothered by any of it. Today was more hands-on for me. I drew rabies / bordatella / DHPP vaccinations, assisted with health check paperwork for dogs waiting in stray hold, learned how to set up and test all the tubing for the anesthesia/respiration machines, applied eye lubricant and clipped nails when dogs and cats went under, and of course observed Lucy's surgery. I had a freaking BLAST.

I brought Lucy in at 8AM. I took a few photos of the team prepping her for surgery (shown right). By noon, she was under for her spay with Dr. Tyson. Meanwhile, Dr. Scherrer and his RVT arrived from SAGE for the FHO. At 1:05, Dr. Scherrer made the first incision and it was go time. I had so much fun watching this procedure. Lucy did great. Fortunately, everything went smoothly as a straightforward FHO should. There are a few different techniques for removing the femoral head during FHO. One is to use a bone saw, another is to use a burr, and another yet is to use something called gigli wire (like a garrote). Dr. Scherrer opted to use the Stryker burr to remove Lucy's femoral head. The Stryker is basically a drill type instrument that has different attachments (think drill bits) on the end. You can also see the cauterizing tool he used to control the bleeding. In the video below, you can even see a decent sized puff emerge from the site. That's the cauterizer at work. Dr. Scherrer's RVT monitored Lucy very closely during the entire surgery (just shy of 2 hours!) and made sure she remained comfortable. She did great! Check out the removed femoral head (shown bottom right).

Lucy will stay overnight with Dr. Tyson tonight to be sure she gets through the critical part of her recovery. She's on a serious cocktail of drugs called an mlk drip: morphine, lidocaine, and ketamine. These are administered via IV drip before, during, and after surgery. She's also got a fentanyl pain management patch on her leg that will continue to keep her comfortable for the next few days once she's no longer on the mlk drip. On top of that, Lucy received a post-op metacam injection to control inflammation. Did I mention she got a hydromorphone injection before all of this? The girl is straight chillin, so don't worry! She's being kept as comfortable as possible.

All that fuss for one tiny bone

Lucy waking up post-op

Our lady beagle will come home tomorrow, take it easy, and in a few days begin some basic physical therapy exercises with me. In two short weeks, she'll be ready to use that leg like normal. The pelvic fracture will eventually heal on its own. Then miss Lucy will be ready for adoption! Huge thanks to St. Francis for sponsoring Lucy's rescue, to SJACC for allocating the resources to bring in SAGE, to Dr. Tyson and everyone at the shelter for spaying Lucy and keeping her comfortable, and of course to Dr. Scherrer and Liza for their mobile surgery skills today (and for letting me crash the OR with my camera!). All of these people are genuinely amazing and so devoted to what they do. It has been an absolute privilege to volunteer in the vet clinic and get to know such a wonderful team of people. Shelter medicine is definitely its own thing and it's totally what I want to do. I feel like a sponge; I'm learning so much and having so much fun along the way. Stay tuned for pupdates on Lucy's recovery and for more volunteer adventure in the vet clinic next Tuesday!

100th Blog Post Surprise: Meet Lucy!

Intake photo, volunteer photo, & FREEDOM RIDE PHOTO!

I can't think of a better way to celebrate my 100th blog post than introducing our very first California foster! Meet Lucy, a ridiculously sweet 1 year-old beagle mix from San Jose Animal Care Center. Lucy came into the shelter on St. Patrick's Day. An officer picked her up as a stray on the 87 (a major freeway) right by our house. She has a fractured pelvis and femoral head, likely from being hit by a car. In addition to that, she's very underweight. It was love at first sight for Drew, despite her awful intake photo. We planned to take a break from fostering for a while, but Drew couldn't resist so I pulled the trigger. We sprung Lucy from the shelter Monday night courtesy of St. Francis Animal Protection Society, a fabulous local rescue group I've begun to get involved with.

Lucy's first evening with us

Miss Lucy is scheduled for FHO surgery on April 1. We didn't want her to sit in the shelter all that time, so St. Francis got us the go-ahead to bring her home and then take her back in next week for the procedure. The shelter is bringing in a surgeon from SAGE, a highly regarded veterinary specialty group in town. This is the same operation Cap'n Jack just had with us back in Atlanta, so we know pretty well what to expect. It's a quick and simple recovery, all things considered. With some easy physical therapy exercises, two weeks is the typical recovery time from an FHO. Remember, this is the surgery where they remove the round head of the femur bone that fits into the hip socket. The result is a free-floating femur, which sounds weird but is MUCH better than a splintered, fragmented, fractured bone that is painful and prone to infection. Lucy will adapt in no time flat. For more information on FHO surgery, check out the blog post I wrote when we went through this with Cap'n Jack: http://ohfortheloveofdogs.blogspot.com/2014/01/lefty-on-road-to-recovery.html

Somebody's a snuggle bug...

Unfortunately, FHO is not the only obstacle Lucy has to overcome. She's also got a fractured pelvis. The only thing that will help it is time, but pain meds and rest certainly don't hurt. Lucy is on Tramadol and Rimadyl for pain management. The Tramadol makes her a bit sleepy, so that also helps for healing. Basically, this poor girl's entire back end is a mess. We had an 18 hour window during which Lucy was off her medicines between leaving the shelter and visiting the vet St. Francis uses. The combination of no pain meds for broken bones plus the transitional stress made for a pretty rough night. Despite her severe pain and confusion about her new surroundings, Lucy integrated well with our pack. Normally we'd hold off on the introductions, but Lucy requires constant monitoring right now so this way is safer.

A handmade blankie, just for me!

On top of the stress and pain, Lucy's got significant separation anxiety. She had herself panicked into a frenzy in her crate, so Drew sleeps with her in the guest room to be sure she'd quiet down and not further injure herself. We'll continue this until she begins to feel more secure here, then we'll face the uphill battle of transitioning to crate sleeping. This is rather backward, but Drew gets up for work super early so sleep is sort of a must around here. Her anxiety should improve as she continues to settle in with us. After the vet, Lucy and I stopped by Miss Melissa's house to pick up a wonderful care package put together from St. Francis donations. Lucy wants to thank everyone who donated these items to St. Francis. She has some great supplies now, including a Thundershirt, Pet Naturals of Vermont calming chews, and a DAP collar to help with her anxiety. Someone even made her a super cozy fleece blankie! She's finding comfort in all of these items so far. Miss Melissa also included a shrimpy squeaky toy, tasty treats, a pretty pink harness / leash / collar, and glucosamine to help support her good leg while it endures extra strain. How awesome! So thank you, St. Francis folks, from the bottom of little Lucy's heart.

I think we have a Thundershirt model in the house!

Last but not least, we're slowly helping Lucy regain weight. She weighed a measly 11.7 pounds at the vet yesterday. That's less than what my [albeit porky] Chihuahua weighs. Although we see [and hear] a lot of beagle in Lucy, she's mixed with slighter framed breed. Whippet? Chi? Italian Greyhound? We'll never know for sure, but she really is cute with those long legs. So although she's not going to be as big as your average beagle, I'd like to see her hit 18-20 pounds. It's important that we help Lucy increase her weight gradually in order to avoid shocking her system. Her shelter paperwork has her recorded at 16.8 pounds when she arrived last Monday. That's five pounds lost in six days, probably due to extreme pain and stress. We've got her on Merrick Thanksgiving Dinner canned food, which is one of the highest calorie premium foods available. She eats four small meals per day, totaling one cup each day. She also gets a spoonful of Nutrical gel each day for some bonus easy-to-digest calories. This feeding regimen should start to make a difference before long. Then we'll be able to transition her to a normal meal schedule based on dry kibble. 

Lucy definitely had a home before she wound up at the shelter; she came in wearing a nice collar and remnants of pink toenail polish. I don't know which is more sad: the ones that had a family and lost them or the ones that never had anyone at all. Anyhow, she's been through a ton in a very short time. It will all get better for Lucy from here, thanks to St. Francis.

If you'd like to help St. Francis continue saving animals from SJACC in honor of Lucy, please follow the ensuing link. Their website provides options for paypal donations as well as an Amazon wish list: http://stfrancisanimal.rescuegroups.org/info/donate