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RHODY

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Roadie was scraped up off the road by Animal Control after being hit by a car.  Most of his leg and foot had been degloved, and the wound was packed with foxtails and debris.  His dewclaw had been ground off and there was exposed bone on one of his other toes. The attending emergency veterinarian thought he was much too nice a dog not to save. Since the dog had been running loose with no collar or tags and no one came forward to claim him,  the vet cleaned the wound up as best he could and called SBPR to see if we could rescue this injured young Shar Pei.  

Miraculously nothing was broken, but the xrays showed this poor starved dog had somehow ingested a 4" finishing nail!  I don't know how, but he passed it without incident.

The trick to fostering Roadie was the risk of infection.  We have to keep the wound clean or he will be facing amputation of the entire front leg.  So now that we have the dog, we are looking at a minimum of 3 months recovery just to get the foot healed.  This involves 8 weeks of daily trips to the vet for a bandage change  (at $25-50 per session).  Just when we thought things were healing fine, he started coming up with foxtail abscesses from pieces of foxtail that weren't found during the initial wound clean up.  Rhody has been under anesthesia a total of 6 times for this treatment alone.

The flesh wound has healed for the most part.  There is a small surface sore and some residual swelling.  The vet has cleared him for adoption although he can't tell us how long the remainder of the healing process will take.  It's just a matter of time and patience.  Roadie uses his foot pretty well.  He's regaining the muscles in his shoulder that had atrophied from lack of use.   After all he's been through, Roadie doesn't even hate the vet!

To try to keep expenses down for SBPR, Roadie's foster home bought many of the bandage material out-of-pocket.  We would also like to thank the following companies for their generous donations to help Roadie:  3M CORPORATION donated 4 cases of Vetrap bandaging tape, BLAIREX LABORATORIES, INC. donated 8 cans of Wound Wash Saline (a true must-have for any first aid kit) and BLUE RIDGE PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. donated 6 tubes of Facilitator Liquid Bandage.

We will begin to search for the right "forever home" for Rhody as soon as he is healed and ready.

UPDATE:  Rhody is now in a wonderful home and completely healed.  He has some scarring on his foot and leg that will always be a reminded of his brush with death.  He is well loved and will never need to be afraid or alone again!

Can you help?  Dogs like Rhody are left to die in shelters everyday.  We rely on the donations of people like you to help us raise the funds needed to care for a few of these dogs and give them the chance that you gave Rhody!! You can make any donation by going to the paypal link at the top of this page or you can mail a check to:

South Bay Purebred Rescue
P.O. Box 36090
San Jose, CA 95158