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Animal Shelter, Inc. 3 November 2009 |
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To all our pet loving supporters and friends, we are hoping that you will help us to SAVE MELVIN.
Melvin is one of our hound-mix pups rescued from Virginia this week. His story is quite sad but we are hopeful that WE (along with the help of our amazing supporters, donors, previous adopters and loving pet owners) can help change that around. Just a couple of weeks ago, in mid October, a few of our staff members were fortunate enough to visit our sister shelter, the Southside SPCA in Meherrin, Virginia, for their Open House event. As we walked through the Shelter, we saw little Melvin curled up in his kennel all by himself. He looked so sad and lonely. We were heartbroken. All his siblings had been adopted by wonderful families. The Southside SPCA director didn’t want to burden the Sterling Shelter with his medical care. They were prepared to let Melvin live the rest of his life at their shelter. They also told us that Melvin and his siblings were found at the Town Dump!!! Not surprising though, because sadly, a lot of the puppies and dogs we’ve accepted from Virginia ARE found abandoned at town dumps. Melvin and his siblings were all scavenging for food and shelter at the dump. The staff at the Southside SPCA believed he was hit by a car and their vet felt he probably had a fractured pelvis that was healing as is!! Melvin walks a bit crooked and has a slight limp. He has never showed it, but after learning more about his medical problem, he’s has to be in a lot pain and discomfort. He is so cute, beyond words, and despite whatever he suffered, he’s never shown anything but love and gratitude to have a warm bed and full belly.
"Send MELVIN to US!" On Monday, November 2nd, little Melvin went to his orthopedic consult for x-rays with the most amazing and compassionate vet, Dr .Melissa Dudley at the Northboro VCA. Dr. Dudley has completed so many amazing surgeries for our Shelter pets and we are very grateful that she’s always there to help our furry friends. Dr. Dudley is OUR savior for many pets that need extensive care! She has even adopted TWO of OUR shelter pets!! We are very thankful to Dr. Dudley and the Northboro VCA as they are offering us a 50% discount for Melvin’s surgery! Otherwise we’d be looking at almost $3,000 for his care. Even BETTER news is that one of Dr. Dudley’s amazing surgical techs, Rebecca, offered to FOSTER Melvin for TWO WEEKS and provide all his physical therapy, as he needs to IMMEDIATELY start using his leg/hip after his surgery. We think Rebecca is a very special angel for both US and MELVIN as we were worried about him getting the best post-op surgical care and physical therapy, which is/was more than we could provide at the Shelter. We are reaching out to our supporters and hope that you will HELP US get Melvin his new hip, and most importantly, alleviate his pain. We’ve already scheduled Melvin for surgery this week because we didn’t want to see him in any pain or discomfort. We are very hopeful that we’ll be able to raise the much needed money to cover his surgery. If you’d like to help us get Melvin his new hip, please click here and in the notes section please indicate the donation is for Melvin’s New Hip—100% of the money raised will go towards Melvin’s medical care!
THANK YOU for taking the time to learn more about our little hound dog Melvin. We hope you will help us help him and get him a new hip so he can run, play and be the puppy he deserves to be. From all the staff at our Shelter and the Southside SPCA, and most of all from Melvin, big slurps, woofs and warm, wet puppy noses to you all.
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WHAS IS FEMORAL HEAD OSTEOCTOMY? Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO) is a surgical procedure that removes the femoral head and neck from the femur. FHO surgery is performed to alleviate pain. It is a salvage procedure, reserved for condition where pain can not be alleviated in any other way. It is common in veterinary surgery.
The procedure exposes the head section of the femur bone (the ball of the ball and socket joint), and then the head is removed using a small saw or a bone hammer and chisel. Rarely both sides are done in one operation,[3] most times one side is done and allowed to heal before the other side is done.
Unlike most other hip surgeries, the head of the femur is not replaced, but is allowed to heal and develop its own fibrous scar tissue so that the joint is no longer bone−to-bone, a pseudoarthrosis (also called a "false joint"). The neck of the femur is usually removed at the same time as the head. This prevents the post operative complication of bone rubbing on bone and continued pain. This has led to the procedure often also called "Femoral head and neck ostectomy".
Animals who have had FHO surgery are required to maintain a lower weight throughout their lives to compensate for the loss of skeletal integrity, and generally have less mobility than normal.
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Meet Melvin and help us help him get a new hip!
WE ALL FELL IN LOVE with Melvin and would have NO PART in letting him live out his life in the shelter, even
though IT IS a nice shelter with amazing volunteers and staff. It’s not too often that our shelter can
take pets that need such extensive medical care, but we wanted a better life for Melvin. We all knew that he
had a better future with a potential family here in our area. The staff and volunteers at the Southside SPCA
were in TEARS when we told them that we would help him.
After reviewing Melvin’s x-rays, we discovered that he has/had a broken ankle which doesn’t need any current care as its pretty much healed on its own. Melvin DOES NEED an Femoral Head Osteotomy, also known as an FHO surgery, and is performed to alleviate pain. It is a salvage procedure, reserved for conditions where pain cannot be alleviated in any other way.
We’ll also be posting updates on Melvin’s care over the next few weeks. If you’re interested in finding out more about Melvin or are interested in adopting him, 