Girl with a Broken Leg Needs a Helping Hand!

Friends of Ashe County Animals (FACA) works to help connect highly adoptable animals from Ashe County (NC) Animal Control with reputable rescues or regional adopters.  The term “highly adoptable” can describe dogs and cats of all ages, sizes, and breeds as well as those with medical issues.  One such dog is Madeline, a 6 month old Lab-x girl, who was a stray in a very rural section of Ashe County NC.

Earlier in July 2013, Madeline was hit by a car that kept going.  She was left lying in the middle of a lonely country road unable to move.  Things looked pretty bleak for her until a kind lady drove by and realized Madeline was VERY much alive but injured.  The Good Samaritan gently lifted the pup into her car and drove home.  Not having planned on having a dog of her own and not knowing how else to proceed from that point, the citizen contacted Ashe County Animal Control, who came to pick up the injured puppy.  The Animal Control Officers set up a quiet area for her in an indoor kennel run and let FACA know of her presence.  

FACA’s local volunteer quickly evaluated the pup (by now called Madeline) and found a gentle girl full of kisses who was now standing on three legs, occasionally bearing weight on the L rear (injured) leg, and (thankfully) with no issues with bowel or bladder incontinence (a great sign as far as spinal cord health goes).  Pictures were taken and video was shot in an effort to reach out to a rescue who could help Madeline.  Realizing that any reputable rescue would want to know the extent of Madeline’s injuries in order to have an idea if they could raise the needed amount of money and provide the needed amount of care/rehabilitation before committing to take her, Friends of Ashe County Animals paid for an office visit and X-ray at the local Veterinarian. 

Madeline’s Pelvis X Ray

The X-rays revealed the femoral head to have been sheared off the femur (leg) bone and some minor injuries to the pelvis itself.   Madeline would need surgery to remove the femoral head and to stabilize the hip joint.  The total cost of this would be around $1000.  This doesn’t include the costs of basic vetting or spay surgery.

With that information and the X-rays in hand, FACA reached out to Chicagoland Lab Rescue (www.chicagolandlabrescue.org) who said YES to Madeline as well as to another 5 month old uninjured stray Lab-x girl, Annabelle, who just happened to be in the shelter at the same time!  In a stroke of wonderful luck, Kim Kenny, one of the co-founders of CLR, happened to be visiting NC and was close to heading back to Chicago. 

Cathy Allinder, a local volunteer and key part of FACA’s efforts, graciously pulled both Madeline and Annabelle from the shelter, bathed them, overnighted them and then drove the 3 hour roundtrip to connect with Kim in Hamptonville, NC. 

Kim Kenny meets her passengers…

Madeline and Annabelle went straight to CLR’s Veterinarian upon arrival in IL and both completed their vetting and had spay surgeries late this past week.  The spay surgery also enabled the Vet to obtain more detailed X-rays of Madeline’s injuries and to plan surgery for this coming week.  Madeline has had NO trouble adjusting to life as a pampered Chicago house dog in her CLR foster home.

Meanwhile, I should note that the photos and video that Cathy shot of Annabelle in the shelter quickly gained the interest of a couple who were approved CLR adopters.  They had a 9 year old Lab-x girl and they all were grieving the loss of their other mixed-breed dog due to cancer.  When they saw Annabelle, they fell in love and decided they didn’t want to wait 2 weeks for Annabelle to go through a foster home but wanted her straight away.  Thus, Annabelle’s prospective family met her at the Veterinarian’s office on SAT and word has it that Annabelle came bounding into the meeting room and immediately dove into her adoptive dad’s arms….She had him (them) at first snuggle!  Congratulations to Annabelle and her new family.

Chicagoland Lab Rescue has raised a good deal of the money needed to cover Madeline’s surgery but still needs about $200 to cover the surgery alone (not to mention that they have covered basic vetting and spay surgery).

WANT TO HELP????  Please consider donating to CLR via www.chicagolandlabrescue.org/donate   (CLR has submitted all their 501c3 paperwork to the IRS and is awaiting final approval).                                     

Special thanks to Cathy Allinder for pictures and video of Annabelle & Madeline in Ashe County NC as well as to Chicagoland Lab Rescue volunteers for photos taken in IL. 

Friends of Ashe County Animals is a division of Fabulous McGrady and Friends Foundation, a registered non-profit in the state of NC with 501c3 paperwork in progress.