ABR's Bosco: My Poor Toes! January 21, 2009

My Story- as told by my foster mom

Bosco is an owner surrender after an “accident” left him in desperate need of surgery. No one is quite sure what happened, but his owners took him to the vet with a broken leg. They did not have the money to have the leg set, so the Veterinarian agreed to wrap the leg and explained how to care for him. Three weeks after the initial vet visit, he was taken back to the vet because the leg now “smelled funny”. The owners did not do as the Veterinarian had instructed them to do; the wrap was left on for the entire three weeks! When the Veterinarian removed the bandage he discovered it was severely infected. Gangrene had spread through the entire leg. The only option to save his life was amputation. That’s where ABR came in! After the mention of a call to the police about animal abuse, the owners surrendered him into ABR’s care. We approved the life saving surgery and a specialty surgeon was called in to remove the leg. But since the leg was so badly infected the specialty surgeon would not do the operation because he did not believe Bosco would make it. (HA! Was he wrong...) Since Bosco was already under anesthesia another Veterinarian agreed to do the amputation. Because he was not a specialty surgeon, he was only able to remove the leg, not the leg and shoulder. This means that Bosco will need to undergo another surgery to remove the rest of the leg and the shoulder. (He currently still tries to "use" the leg which results in the occasional tumble.)

I have been having a rough time in the morning with our walks. Dad usually takes me on a nice long walk, about 1.5 miles, but lately after just a few minutes my feet get really cold! I try to lick them to warm them up, but that just makes them worse. Dad is really nice, he carries me home.
After 3 weeks of this SUPER cold weather (single digits at the highest) Mom broke down and bought me new boots! She got me red ones so they would match my collar. It's a little hard to walk in them, and they are slippery on the wood and tile floor, but I think they will do a good job keeping my little feet warm in the morning. I can't wait to try them out!
Here are a few pictures of me with my new boots. The trip to the store and trying them out really tired me out!