Lady Luck Smiles on this Lady
by Sheri Cardo
Every once in a while, the stars line up in a row and bestow their benevolent light on a creature who sparkles as brightly as they shine …
But, at first, the outlook wasn’t good. In fact, it was dismal. The young Lab was limping and clearly in pain. The staff members at San Francisco Animal Care and Control, already in love with this very sweet dog, were in pain themselves upon hearing her diagnosis — severe hip dysplasia, too costly to correct.
Of the thousands of dogs they handle each year, they knew that Lady had an exceptionally endearing personality and the thought of euthanizing her was more than they could bear. But the organization couldn’t afford to treat her, so they made a leap of faith on her behalf and called Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue — even though Lady the Lab was clearly a Lab mix.
There’s nothing Don Richardson of Lab Rescue likes more than rescuing deserving Labs from overcrowded shelters. He went to the San Francisco shelter to meet the six-month-old Lady — and like all those before him, he too fell under her spell. “She has a very calm and loving demeanor and just the perfect temperament — and ‘perfect’ is a word I almost never use,” he says. “It was impossible not to want to give her a second chance.”
Don took Lady to his veterinarian for a thorough work up and received results far more grim than he’d expected. “It turned out that both of Lady’s hips were dysplastic, along with her elbows. It’s astonishing that this young dog, who must be in constant, terrible pain, is still as joyful and active as she is.”
The diagnosis was sobering. Lady’s condition, while treatable, would require major surgeries on her hips and elbows, and lengthy and difficult rehabilitations after each surgery. Worse, the cost of the double hip surgery alone was estimated at $7,000.
Networking benefits the animals
“It was then that I called The Marin Humane Society,” says Don. “I knew that MHS didn’t have that kind of money to spend on any one dog either, but I thought that they might have some other resources that could help. I was desperate.”
The Marin Humane Society is an open door shelter, which means that we accept all animals who are brought to us, even if they are from outside the county. Over the years, MHS has developed strong working relationships with animal rescue groups, including Lab Rescue. Based on that connection, Kim Lanham-Snyder, MHS director of animal care, was willing to give Lady her third chance.
“It’s true that we are able to provide shelter animals with significant medical intervention,” said Kim. “We have a skilled full-time veterinarian on staff and we work closely with area veterinary specialists on out-of-the-ordinary cases. And we have a designated Dog Fund to which the public generously contributes for special dog cases. But $7,000 is out of the realm of possibility.”
Kim, however, is an optimist, and she thought it was worth a shot to have Lady checked out by Petaluma veterinary orthopedic surgeon, Russ Gurevitch, DVM, of Veterinary Referral Surgical Services, who has kindly performed surgeries on shelter animals at reduced rates in the past — but first, Lady had to meet certain conditions.
Making tough decisions
“We always have to ask ourselves whether what we can do is what we should do, and whether a certain course of action is the morally right thing to do for this individual animal,” says Kim. “Lady’s case is complicated by the fact that she will require extensive rehabilitation in a foster home after each surgery. For weeks afterward, she’ll need to be kept quiet and contained, which is very difficult for any dog, let alone a young Lab. Because we can’t explain to Lady why she’s in pain and why she can’t move around, she needs to be strong enough to physically, emotionally and mentally withstand this situation.”
Upon arriving at The Marin Humane Society, Lady was first evaluated by the shelter behaviorists. “We just thought she was fabulous,” says Trish King, director of the behavior and training department. “She’s incredibly friendly and attentive, she wants to be close, she wants to please, she likes to have fun, she relaxes easily, she’s good with other dogs, cats and kids … she’s an all-around neat dog. After we temperament tested her, we all looked at her and said, ‘We can’t believe there’s something wrong with you, you’re too wonderful.’”
MHS veterinarian Belinda Evans, DVM, then examined Lady anew. “Her story just gets more complicated,” she says. “Along with the hip and elbow dysplasia, she also has panosteitis, a young dog disease in which the bones are inflamed, like growing pains. It’s temporary, but very painful.”
Dr. Evans explained Lady’s case to Dr. Gurevitch and he agreed to see her. Because Lady was still quite young, rather than replace the hips, which is standard treatment for hip dysplasia in adult dogs, Dr. Gurevitch recommended a procedure called Triple Pelvic Osteotomy, which reconstructs the hips instead. It can only be done in young dogs because their bones are still growing; the expectation is that the surgery will cause the bone to re-form itself and stabilize so that the head of the femur fits more normally in the hip socket. The surgery entails cutting the pelvis in three places on each side and recovery is extremely painful.
Fortunately, the surgeon thought that Lady’s uncommonly mellow temperament made her an excellent candidate for handling the rigors of surgery and recovery, and he offered to perform both surgeries at a greatly reduced cost. This was the green light that everyone had been hoping for. Thanks to so many people along the way, and especially Dr. Gurevitch, Lady was finally going to get her ultimate chance. The excitement in the shelter was almost palpable.
Foster homes make the difference
MHS foster care coordinator Kristen Loomer kicked into gear to find the right foster home for Lady during her recovery. Out of her database of 100-plus homes, she chose an experienced volunteer who is at home much of the time and possesses knowledge of rehab and the willingness to help Lady do post-op exercises to keep her muscles from atrophying. “Without foster parents, our animal patients would have to sit in the shelter during their recovery, which would not be in their best interest, either physically or emotionally,” says Kristen. “It would be almost impossible to do the medical and behavioral work we do with animals without foster homes. They are absolutely vital.”
Lady’s is a highly unusual case in terms of the amount of medical intervention necessary to make her adoptable and it is rare that any animal shelter would or could devote so many resources to any one animal. But, as one volunteer said, “Once you meet Lady, you feel compelled to do anything you possibly can to help her — she is that special.”
The road to recovery
Lady had her first surgery on December 3. Because of the severity of her elbow dysplasia, Dr. Gurevitch opted to do one elbow and the opposing hip; several weeks later he followed up with a second surgery on the remaining elbow and hip.
Lady was in a lot of pain for the first few days after surgery, but since then she has been the wonderful happy-go-lucky puppy everyone knows and loves. When she came in to have her staples removed only one week after surgery, she seemed so much like her usual self that, if you couldn’t see the incisions, you wouldn’t have known she’d just had major surgery. As MHS veterinarian Dr. Evans says, “Lady is one tough cookie!”
Home sweet home
Lady is now fully recovered from both her surgeries. When is was time for Lady to find a permanent home, she did not have to go far. After spending several months caring for her, Lady's foster mom was not able to give this wonderful canine up and is now part of her family.
The community effort in Lady's recovery is truly awe inspiring. She has touched so many people's lives and her success gives us the reassurance that when people come together for a cause great things can be accomplished!
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has inquired about Lady and donated toward her medical care.
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