I recently found out there was a no kill animal shelter called The Haven only about 10 miles from my home in Lubbock, Texas. So I went there to see how I how I might be able to contribute. I brought Patch with me and some photographs of when I first found him (see Patch's profile) and showed them to Joe, the founder of the shelter. He was impressed and glad to have me as a volunteer. He mentioned that he had a number of pit bulls and pit bull mixes currently at the shelter. I told Joe I would be willing to treat any of the dogs that have mange. The first dog he showed me was called Seven and Joe said he had a hip problem that affected the use of his back legs.
Right away I determined Seven would be my first priority. Mange is fairly easy to get under control but Seven had oozing bloody wounds on his back that I wanted to attend to immediately.
He was being kept in an air conditioned building with a doggy door allowing him to go to an outside pen area. He had nice cushy pads on the floor of his inside area like those you see in a gymnasium. The very first thing I did was thoroughly clean his area and all the other pens for the other dogs in the building so that Seven would have absolutely as clean a home as possible.
Seven's treatments consist of giving him a shampoo with Oxydex to clean off the blood and other stuff that are draining from his wounds. I then sponge an Epsom salt solution on his wounds for about ten minutes and then finally I apply triple antibiotic ointment to the wounds.
Joe asked if I thought it would help if Seven went back to the vet. I was all for it. I figured it would be good to get an update on his condition. Seven had been to the vet a number of times before I started working with him. The thing is the shelter keeps anywhere from 250-300 dogs at any given time. There are only so many workers and volunteers to take care of the many daily tasks so it really wasn't possible to give Seven all the individual attention he needed on a daily basis. I think Joe could see that was about to change now that I was working with him.
The vet took x-rays, blood tests and also removed some drain tubes that had been inserted at an earlier date. They also prescribed amoxicillan pills. The blood test came out mostly normal with a slightly high white blood cell count. The x-rays showed malformations in 3 vertebrae around his hip area. Two of the vertebrae had fused which was "good" but the third looked like it was just shattered or collapsed and you can see that it is putting pressure on his spinal column. The vet said the draining wounds were probably signs of nerve damage. I'm not sure if I'm correctly translating the vet's words but I think I'm pretty close.
The vet said if things are left as they are Seven's spine will eventually get worse and he'll probably lose the use of his legs altogether. At that point his quality of life will deteriorate dramatically. She said there could be any of a number of things going on, from cancer, to an infection, to an unhealed injury from maybe being hit by a car. She said his current prognosis was "very poor". This was very hard for me to listen to I have to tell you. I was just not willing to accept any finality in her voice.
I asked if it was possible to know FOR SURE what the problem is and she said yes but that it would take an MRI and/or a biopsy of the affected area. I asked how much it would cost and her response was "The costs will be considerable. Several thousand dollars."
If it's cancer, she says they could try removing it but that it's unlikely they could remove it all and so it would probably come back. So if that's the case we probably truly can't do anything. However if it was from an injury it would be possible to do surgery to stabilize the situation so that it won't get any worse.
My gut feeling is that it's not cancer. Joe says Seven has been with the shelter for over 2 1/2 years now. I asked Joe if Seven's condition has improved or become worse in that time. He said it has remained about the same. If it was cancer I would think it would have become worse. If it was an infection I would also think it would have become worse. So that fact that it is not getting worse is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. And because you can see the two vertebrae have fused which is a form of healing it points toward trauma of some sort.
For that reason I am holding out hope that Seven's condition can be made better. The damage is already done. He will always have lameness in his back legs. But my hope is that we will be able to stop any further deterioration of his spine and any further nerve damage and get his external wounds to heal up for good.
As for Seven, I can't begin to tell you what a sweet dog he is. He immediately melted my heart and, while I've only known him for a short time, I've grown to love him a great deal. He's so gentle and quiet. He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. He's very affectionate and sort of hops on his front paws when I come around. He's such a lover. He makes a little grunting sound and nibbles on my ears and licks my face profusely.
He has all kinds of character in his face. He always has either a very serious or a very curious look on his face. He scrunches up his forehead and tilts his ears constantly. Very endearing. His fur reminds me of those really old well-worn Steiff bears.
The way he's handling his condition is inspiring. He's always on his feet hobbling and skipping around. He drags his feet some but he doesn't let that stop him. As far as he's concerned he doesn't have a problem with his legs. I enjoy seeing him walk and I'm determined to make sure he keeps walking.
My original plan was to volunteer at the shelter one or two days a week but because of Seven I ended up going there every day for about 6 days straight. I knew I wasn't going to be able to keep that up. I also knew Seven needed constant care. So I decided to take Seven home and keep him in my back yard where I could give him the daily treatments he needs. He's already shown signs of improvement. He enjoys having a nice big back yard and he's been running back and forth alot.
Here are is a link to some videos I posted on YouTube of Seven skipping along in my back yard:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=sevenheven7
I still have Patch so it's not easy. I have to keep the two apart. Patch is powerful and he plays rough so I won't take any chance of letting Patch cause further injury to Seven. That's also the sole reason why I can't keep him. If I didn't have Patch it would be a done deal--Seven would be staying with me for the rest of his life. But as it is he's staying with me until we can find him a good home. I'm committed to improving his condition until that time. I can also say I don't look forward to the day we part company. I've grown very attached.
I've discussed it with my wife and we agreed we can afford to put up $500 toward his testing. That leaves at least another $1500 to go. We haven't got an exact figure for the tests yet. We're starting up a "Seven Fund" and would greatly appreciate any donations. I'm sure many of you would love to adopt him but cannot. However if you are able to contribute to Seven's cause you would be playing a big part helping him. So please send any donations you can to The Seven Fund, 4501 N. County Road 1729, Lubbock, TX 79403. That is the address to The Haven animal shelter. When we get enough money together I will personally transport Seven wherever he needs to go to get the necessary testing and hopefully treatment.
Thank you for visiting and for caring and please email a link to Seven's profile to all your friends and family.
Remember also Seven is still looking for a special home with a very caring and loving family. We'd love to hear from you.
Please check out Seven's Dogster profile for photos:
www.dogster.com/dogs/600102
Here is a link to The Haven animal Shelter. You can find a link to all the dogs available for adoption including Seven:
http://www.havenacs.org/index.asp
Thank you for caring!