Candi is running out of legs!

Purely For Dogs and Candi really need your help ....

We picked Candi up at the Centro Salud (health centre) in Campanillas, Malaga, Spain where she had been dumped. She is a tiny girl, a Mini Pinscher type and weighs only 5kgs ... It’s a hugely busy area with a main road and lots of traffic ... She was limping badly and was heavily pregnant. We took her immediately to our vet. Judging by her teeth she was possibly only 9 months old when we picked her up so now approx 11 months. She had no microchip, no identification. We made many attempts to find an owner incase she had been lost, stolen etc but no one came forward. It’s obvious she has discomfort, her left hind leg is stuck in a bent and rotated inwards situation, but we couldn’t do much to help that while she was pregnant so we kept her as comfortable as possible with lots of love and cuddles added in.

2 weeks later Candi had 3 puppies ... she has been a perfect little mum but we now need to do something to try to help her leg.

Today we went to see the orthopedic specialist. Carlos Macia with Candi.

It was good news and bad news for this little one....

Her bad leg - the left hind leg- is a result of a condition called luxating patella. It is the most severe case - grade 4 - which has resulted in total dislocation, a fracture of the tibia and deformity. The tendons and ligaments are totally irreparably damaged. This is why she has no movement in the knee and the leg is rotated inwards, leaving it useless to her - well more than useless it’s a hindrance. The treatment recommended for her is ARTHRODESIS of the stifle/knee. This is where using long metal plates the leg is fused making the knee ineffective but putting the leg in to a better position so she can at least put her foot on the floor for stability. He said success is usually

90-95% however that depends on recovery which will be 3 months of inactivity to allow the plates to do their job and the bone around, above and below to thicken. The bones need to become thicker as there is a risk of fracture at each end of the plates - due to laws of science, when the 2 bones are joined together to make one long one the force on that one long bone becomes much bigger so it needs to become stronger to cope. It’s a big operation and her bones are tiny but without this her life could be very limited - she deserves this chance she really does. But that’s the ‘good’ bit. Now for the bad bit ....

Candi’s other hind leg - the right - has stage 2 luxating patella - this is why she is struggling on 3 legs - often dogs can cope very well on three but it’s very hard work for her. Even to do a poop is difficult - she has to take both back legs off the floor and balance on her front legs to be able to get into a good position - this is because the knee cap on the right hind leg is slipping out of the joint. This leg is constantly under stress because she has no support from the other, the reason she doesn’t limp too much with it ..... is probably ... because she can’t - she would fall. But often she does over balance, if the puppies now try to feed from her standing up she can’t maintain her balance and falls ... As this is a stage 2 luxation we must protect this joint to try to prevent worsening so that means getting the left leg operated on as soon as possible so she can spread the stress and weight on all four legs. So this bad news answered the question of amputation of the left leg - this would be a total last resort because the effect that would have on the right leg would be huge and disastrous.

The situation is now her puppies are 6 weeks old and almost weaned, they only feed from her at night - happily eating starter kibble and drinking water in the day time - we will begin to reduce the night feeding time down now as before surgery she must be vaccinated. If we set a plan into swing we’d hope maybe in 6 weeks she could have her surgery - obviously she needs this doing ASAP and also we would prefer the worst time over with before the fierce heat of the summer.

The cost ... the surgery comes in at 1550€ plus IVA at 21% = 1875.50€ - there will be follow up visits for dressings to be changed, sutures out .... if there are any complications of course there would be added costs. This is a massive amount for us to try to find ourselves but this little girl is such a good girl, she isn’t yet a year old, she honestly deserves this chance to be able to have a life, certainly without this surgery she is facing a desperate future physically and we doubt she would ever find a forever home, even with it done her chances of finding that happy ever after we think are low - that’s heartbreaking for her - she is a fabulous little one, she has learned so much over the last 8 weeks, she has been an amazing mum to her 3 puppies and it’s 100% certain she hasn’t been loved or cared for in her short life. She was no doubt dumped because she had this condition and she was pregnant.... but dumped in a heavy traffic area at the Centro Salud (health centre) .... that says all about how she has been valued doesn’t it.

If you could help Candi - she, we would be extremely grateful .... it would literally mean the world to her ....

Thank you!

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The specialist is Carlos Macias Ldo vet DSAS (orthopaedics) at Centro Veterinario de Referencia Bahía de Malaga

https://referenciaveterinaria.com/quienes-somos/