WINNSBORO, SC.......Sweet ROXY is a 5 year old adorable Mastiff that was brought into Animal Control by someone that claimed she was a stray they found and were turning in. The problem with this is that Roxie seemed to know the people and was sitting in their lap like she had done this for a long time. The end result is that she was turned in skinny, about 30 pound underweight with a deformed limb that she used to balance with only. Roxie has suffered a terrible trauma that has rotated her leg 90 degrees to the left. She has lost her ability to use the leg to go forward because it will not bend and has healed in a position that blocks her forward motion unless the leg is carried. Roxie had a rescue that had stepped up for her but the rescue wanted to remove the leg. The problem with that is that a mastiff is so big that removing the leg would put too much stress on the other legs from her weight. Amputating a mastiff’s leg is a last resort only. The rescue that had her was glad we stepped up for her since they could not afford all the tests and surgery that was required to save her leg. We have contacted Specialists all over the Country to come up with the best plan for restoring her ability to walk. We looked into elbow replacement and that still required repairing the leg before that could be done. We finally decided we had enough information to go ahead with repairing her leg. Roxie has been with CVRC (Charleston Veterinary Referral Services) for evaluation and finally for her surgery. Once the surgeons got in, they realized they were doing the right thing for her. Her leg had to be re-broken, the joint cleaned and all of the old scar tissue and bone removed that had formed and rotated back to a normal position. We had fixatures put in instead of plates because they could easily be removed once the bones had healed. We also did the fixatures so we could do everything possible to bend her leg. It is a long shot, but we wanted to do everything we could to try and save the leg that was causing her pain and suffering without amputating. You can always amputate but you can’t do surgery if the leg is gone. Roxie is doing rehab every week to restore as much of her ability to walk.
For all you Mastiff people, Roxy is the sweetest, most lovable big girl you will ever meet. We love this wonderful dog. She is a big baby. When the Vet. Techs came in to shave her leg for the IV, her eyes were as big as saucers. She turned her head, stuck out her paw as if to say “Go ahead, do what you have to do, but you really have the wrong Dog”. We have all been cuddling with her through this entire process. The family that adopts dear Roxy will feel love every time they hug her. She just melts in your arms. Unconditional love is all she knows.
Sweet Roxy is doing incredible since we did her surgery. She is in a foster home of a wonderful Vet. Tech. that is taking care of her wounds and closely monitoring the incisions and the fixature. Roxie developed an infection right after surgery but has since been treated and the incision is healing nicely. Our dear girl has rehab several days a week to get her used to using the leg again and to learn to bend the leg. I am happy to say that she put her foot down for the first time since we had her in a forward walking position. She has not been able to do that because of the rotation she had where her leg was injured before. We are all feeling great about the surgery and do not believe amputation will be in her future. Roxie is one of the sweetest, most gentle dogs you will ever be around. She never complains, even when she is in a lot of pain. She is happy, sweet and loving and will make the best dog for any family.
Roxy is doing great. She is still hesitant about using her legs but rehab is improving that. I can’t even begin to tell you how sweet she is. We love this beautiful dog and so want her to be able to walk normally again. So far, she is right on schedule. She has about 4 more weeks before we can consider removing her fixatures.
