Lucky Paw Foundation Newsletter - July 31, 2024
HELLO FROM THE LUCKY PAW FOUNDATION. WE'VE BEEN BUSY!
Dear Friends of the
Lucky Paw Foundation,
It has been awhile since we have given you, our valuable supporters, an update on all the great things your donations are making possible. We’ve helped 3 animals since the last update. Luna and Sunshine will be highlighted in this newsletter, Tucker’s story will be celebrated at our
summer fundraiser.
The fundraiser is planned for August 21, 2024 at the Lyric Theater in Harbor Springs. Please watch for an invitation! In addition to helping a few animals get their lives back, we’ve been working on producing a very special video that we will be sharing at the fundraiser. If you cannot attend, we hope you will check it out on our website after the event.
We are excited to introduce
Lucky Paw to a wider audience, in addition to celebrating all of our incredible supporters. We are filled will gratitude for all of the generosity! We are creating a community of amazing people that are changing the lives of many animals (and their people) in Northern Michigan.
Hope to see you at the event!
Tracy Dulak, Director
Meet Luna
Luna is a rambunctious 2 year old that was bounding around in her yard when she got her rear leg caught. She ended up luxating her tarsal/metatarsal joint, which looks like a fracture but involves the joint between her toes and her ankle. Many times a fracture repair of bones can be straight forward, but not when the instability comes from torn soft-tissue ligaments and tendons. The repair and healing process is slow and exceptionally challenging with a wild and fun-loving young dog. Stabilization of the joint needs a specialist orthopedic surgeon’s care. However, the cost was a little out of reach for her owners.
They had a difficult conversation with their vet where they felt that she could not thrive without either surgery to repair the joint or amputation of the entire leg. As it was, Marty and I had just recently visited her veterinarian at the Thompson Veterinary Clinic in Manistique to share the Lucky Paw Foundation goals. Her doctor knew just what to do. She contacted us and shared her concern about solving the problem with amputation, which would leave a highly energetic dog to live the rest of her life with only 3 legs. We agreed!
Her owners paid the amount it would have taken to do the amputation (which was NOT done) and we paid for the rest. They travelled to Flint Michigan for the surgery and committed to a couple more follow ups that were needed to check and change the cast. In the end, Luna did great! She is back to her usual happy-go-lucky self, running around on all 4 legs, living her best life. As a side note, we also got some feedback from her veterinarian who was so relieved that she did not have to amputate a perfectly good leg, just so Luna could survive. She felt very grateful to be able to offer the Lucky Paw option to her client. The Lucky Paw Foundation hopes to provide life-changing help to animals in dire situations like this, but we often forget about the stress that these decisions cause the veterinary team. We are happy that our involvement can improve the morale of the veterinarian and technicians involved, too.
Meet Sunshine
Sunshine is our most recent recipient. She has a Guardian Angel as a veterinarian. Her original owner adopted her and immediately realized that something was seriously wrong, she was leaking urine constantly. She was taken to a veterinary clinic where a presumptive diagnosis was an ectopic ureter. (The tube coming from the kidney was wired wrong and bypassed the bladder, dumping urine directly into the urethra, so she leaked urine constantly). The veterinarian recommended a referral to Michigan State University (MSU) for a definitive diagnosis and potential surgical repair. Unfortunately her new owner did not want to deal with the problem. Sunshine was barely 8 weeks old and was already facing euthanasia.
That’s when her veterinarian jumped in and rescued her. She offered to take Sunshine without knowing what she was facing or how expensive the treatment would cost. Luckily they said yes. Her next step was to reach out to the Lucky Paw Foundation to see if we could help.
Generally, we get involved only after a diagnosis is made and once financial support is exhausted. So, her veterinarian committed to taking her to MSU for a diagnostic workup. An ectopic ureter diagnosis was confirmed and repair was planned via urethrocystoscopy and laser ablation. (A procedure where the surgeon uses a tiny scope/laser, goes right into the bladder via the urethra and makes an opening in the bladder at the appropriate spot) Unfortunately, it was determined that this procedure would not be successful, she would need abdominal surgery where the ureter would need to be cut and surgically placed to empty into the bladder. The bottom line, she needed twice the surgery, twice the original estimate. Since Sunshine did not have a committed owner, we elected to split the bill with her veterinarian.
Sunshine had the surgery and has been making excellent progress since her surgery. Before surgery, the urine was causing terrible skin burns, but after the surgery, she is healing well, and no longer leaking. Hooray! Even better news, after everything they had gone through, her Guardian Angel veterinarian elected to adopt her into her family. It was so unfortunate that she was born with a congenital defect, one that nearly cost her her life. Thank goodness for her compassionate veterinarian who believed that every little life mattered. She took a chance on her in that exact moment when she needed someone the most. Sunshine may have a little bumpy recovery, but we know she will be in excellent hands with her new veterinarian Mom. We are grateful that Sunshine will get the chance to live a normal Golden Retriever's life surrounded by a great family that truly loves her.