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Amelia’s Story

October 31st, 2009

Amelia was a tiny 5 month old, 3.4 pound tri-Color Chihuahua. She found her way to Atlanta Pet Rescue from a local vet, where she was surrendered because her owners could not afford to have her broken leg mended.  They signed a waiver to have her euthanized if rescue could not be found.

Our guess is that someone accidentally stepped on little Amelia, breaking both bones in her left front leg, very close to her “ankle”. This was a serious fracture, and we were not sure if her leg could be saved, as she came to us on a Saturday. We got her in to Paces Ferry Animal Hospital as soon as we could for further diagnosis and a prognosis for recovery for Miss Amelia.

Dr. Whittle at Paces Ferry Veterinary Clinic, said Amelia needed surgery to have pins put in her broken bones to stabilize them and allow them to heal in the correct alignment. The location of her fractures was very near her ankle joint, and getting those bones to heal would be very, very difficult. The splints placed on her leg previously did not stabilize and immobilize the fracture sufficiently to allow the bones to heal, so surgery was essential if her leg was to be saved.

Thankfully, Dr. Whittle was able to re-position Amelia’s broken bones and obtain a good positioning of the bones without surgery. This was very good for little Amelia, because there is research that indicates that surgical repair in tiny tykes like Amelia can cause sufficient disruption in blood flow to delay or prevent the bones from healing.

Because the fracture was in a precarious location, good healing was very, very important. We were so pleased that Dr. Whittle was able to avoid surgery on Amelia’s leg.

About three weeks later, Amelia had her leg checked and new X-rays taken. Everything was showing to be healing beautifully. She would need the splints for six more weeks.

Six weeks later, the splints were removed, and Amelia was adopted shortly thereafter! Yay for Miss Amelia!

This rescue story was provided by Betsey Blimline, Director of Marketing and Development for Atlanta Pet Rescue, 404-643-2332, www.atlantapetrescue.org, fundraiser@atlantapetrescue.org.

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Tags: atlanta pet rescue, dog rescue, pet rescue, rescue story
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