ABR's Bosco: February 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.)

Hi guys! I've been pretty busy the last few weeks. Mom has been painting a lot (we moved back in November) and I've been trying to help as much as I can.

Anyway, last night we had our monthly ear cleaning, which I have a love/hate relationship with. After the cleaning mom gives us a big rawhide to chew on for a little bit (the love part). I'm not very good at it, I've had the same one for 6 months and haven't even made a dent on the end. Oh well, It's fun to try.

I like to chew my rawhide on the couch because I can push it into the corner and it doesn't slip away (it's very hard to hold onto it with only one paw). I'm so cleaver! Here are some pictures of me chewing away.