The story of how Precious got her ‘new legs’
If you’ve been following the video diaries of 5 year old Precious since she arrived in rescue you’ll know she always lives up to her name. She has stolen the hearts of everyone she has met and is always so sweet no matter what humans have put her through…
Precious’ Story..
- Precious was the only one in her litter to survive parvovirus before being raised in a cage underneath a caravan, out in all elements with other animals in distress. Medical evidence suggests that Precious has had multiple litters and caesareans too and when she was spayed the severe scar tissue formed an abscess which went black inside her, it quickly started to form a visible lump on the surface of her abdomen. On the 5th of July 2021 she was rushed into emergency surgery and thankfully pulled through thanks to the quick actions of her foster carers and her amazing vet team.
- Once she has recovered there are many more surgeries to come… Precious had 2, grade 3 out of 4 luxating patellas (dislocating kneecaps) and a painful ruptured cruciate ligament, all 3 of which were set to need separate orthopaedic surgeries for her to have the freedom to run like she desperately wanted to.
- She spent 13 days in kennels getting to know us and melting the hearts of everyone she met, as well as many of you. She aced all of her behavioural assessments and prepared for major investigations on her legs and back.. Precious was offered a wonderful foster home, with a mum who is a veterinary nurse and a dad to work from home and help care for her during the gruelling times ahead. It was time to say goodbye to her kennel carers and go on another journey!…
- It was time for xrays and more examinations, Precious’s first medical update wasn’t good news but there was hope that she could one day run free from pain like she so desperately wanted to. A series of orthopaedic operations were planned and the estimated bill was £4000, so many lovely people donated and she was nearly a quarter of the way there!…
- The first operation Precious had was her spay, after being exploited for her puppies for so long the priority was on making sure it could never happen again. After a successful op and recovery a lump started to visibly grow on her abdomen and she was rushed in for emergency surgery… The lump was caused by the scar tissue that had built up from having so many litters and caesareans, it had formed an abscess inside her that would have killed her without the quick action of her foster carers and vets. Everything that was removed during the op was tested for cancer cells and she recieved good news…
- Before long Precious was back on her feet and her foster carers took her on her very first holiday, she had an amazing time and made the most of it before her orthopaedic operations began… The time came for her first orthopaedic operation, the plan was to repair her dislocating kneecap and ruptured ligament in one leg before repeating the procedure on the other leg.. She came home and everything was looking so good..
- Things were looking great for Precious and her surgeons were so pleased, but it soon became apparent that the muscle wastage in her leg meant that even though the op went perfectly her knee wasn’t able to remain where is should be. Her ligament repair had gone really well though, it had hugely improved her mobility and quality of life. It was decided that when it was time to operate on her second back leg, they would go ahead with repeating the ligament surgery but not put her through a second knee operation that may not be a success.
- Precious is now fully recovered from her first 3 operations, her most recent medication review with the specialist was really positive! She’s doing so much better on her new tablets since swapping from the metacam! Better than we could have ever hoped! There have been a lot of chats between her veterinary and care teams about how to move forward and we have all come to the same conclusion. Precious is coping so well with her new pain meds and fixing just that one cruciate ligament. She has achieved what we all set out to help her achieve:
7 months after her rehabilitation began, Precious can now run free from pain!
- Precious also has arthritis in her spine so she won’t be running any marathons any time soon but she has healed so well, achieved the perfect balance of pain relief, a fantastic quality of life and can finally enjoy exercise and play!
- In the (hopefully very distant if ever) future her second leg may deteriorate further and need surgery, but looking at the overall picture we can’t ask her to go back to bed rest and another painful recovery now that she is pain free for the first time in potentially forever. So yes what were are thrilled to announce is that there will be..
NO MORE LEG OPERATIONS FOR PRECIOUS!
Here’s for the best news of all!! Precious was officially adopted whilst celebrating her first proper family Christmas in 2021. She and her family are updating us regularly about adopted life and we will continue to share her journey with you on social media.
