Success Stories

Lucy2, September, 2000

This two year old black girl was a stray; she was taken to the Central Washington Humane Society shelter along with 11 eight week old puppies. The shelter separated Lucy from her puppies. The puppies were put up for adoption but Lucy was deemed unadoptable because of her condition. Lucy was severely emaciated from nursing and neglect. Lucky for Lucy, a lady volunteering for Yakima Valley Kennel Club Purebred Rescue heard about her and decided to foster Lucy.

Lucy got along well with the other 4 dogs that shared her foster home; she loved all humans, big and small and behaved herself very well inside the house. Her foster mom noticed early on that she was walking rather stiffly on her right hind leg. Lucy's leg appeared to get worse once Lucy was allowed more exercise and she had one incident where she became "paralyzed" after attempting to get up and it took 3 hours that night to gain her strength to stand and walk normally. Lucy's foster mom believes her leg may have popped out of the hip socket on that occasion. When Lucy went for her spay surgery, the foster mom asked the vet to x-ray her hips. The x-ray showed that she had broken her pelvis within the past 6 - 12 months, causing severe damage to the right hip. The vet suggested surgery on that hip.

Since the Yakima Valley Kennel Club's rescue is very new, they didn't have enough money to pay for Lucy's surgery. Lucy's rescuer applied to LABMED for funding and we were glad to be able to help this lovely black girl. Another Lab Rescue in Washington, Puget Sound Labrador Retriever Association, also contributed to Lucy's medical care.

Lucy had her surgery and it went very well, even though it took a long time due to the seriousness of Lucy's injury. Lucy managed to stand up in the vet's kennel a short time after she came out of the anesthesia and was allowed to go home the next day. Lucy's foster mom rearranged the furniture to make room for her crate in the living room so she could recuperate comfortably. Lucy was happy to be back home and the other dogs seemed equally happy to have her back. The day after the surgery, Lucy was walking quite well on three legs and even touched the toes of her right back leg to the ground. Lucy will have to be walked on leash only for the two weeks following her surgery and her foster mom will have to do therapy exercises 4 times daily. She will be aided in this by the other 4 Labby girls. One of those girls has decided to be Lucy's close companion and likes to lie down next to Lucy's crate. There is no doubt that Lucy will be just fine with this special Labrattendant!

Update, December, 2000

Lucy's rescuer wrote this:

On Sunday, I adopted Lucy out to her new family near Seattle. She now has 2 eight year old human twin siblings, a new "mom" and a "nana" (grandma lives nearby and babysits the kids sometimes). I had promised her my best to get her a forever family (with real kids!) for Christmas, and it indeed came together. The little boy is doing his best to spoil her---apparently when they got home that night, Lucy went into their family room, lay down on the floor to nap, and the boy thought that wasn't good enough. He coaxed her up onto a blankie on the couch so she could lay her head in his lap to sleep! She now takes turns sleeping with her new mom and the twins, and even got to go to school with the little girl the other day. Next week, "mom" is taking Lucy to her Headstart classroom as they are discussing family pets. She also plans to take Lucy through a Delta Society workshop to become a Delta "Pet Partner"!

So, sad as we are (and it IS quiet with "only" 4 Labs again!), we think Lucy is a pretty lucky little girl and wish her all the best (although my girls are still looking in the back of the SUV for her). This one was truly a keeper, and deserved every bit of the care she received. Boy, is that a story or what? I think Santa came early :~)

Update: February, 2001

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