Sully

Sully was found hiding in yard deep in South Los Angeles. He was injured, filthy and scared. When we went to get him we found a young, starving dog who's skinny body was covered in fresh wounds along with old scars. As he limped over with a low tail wag, the flies that had been sitting in his wounds buzzed around. His eyes were covered in yellow goo, his ears swollen and crusted over from infection and his collar partially imbedded. When I crouched down to say hello, he nuzzled up with his bloodied head and gave me the gentlest of kisses...it was heartbreaking. Who could do this to such a sweet dog?

Over the next few weeks, Sully improved. His wounds had healed and his eyes cleared. His ear infections though serious, were on the mend. But even with crate-rest and pain medication, Sully was still limping. Concerned, he went back to the vet for a recheck and x-rays. Our worst fear was realized. 
 

Sully had a partial tear of the ligament that holds his knee together. Maybe he got it running away from a fight or maybe he was injured by whoever had abused him... we will never know. We can only imagine the trauma he had endured. Similar to an ACL tear in a person, he will require major orthopedic surgery to repair it. Without repair, his knee wouldl become arthritic and the pain wouldl never subside. Click here to read about cruciate injuries in dogs:http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ruptured_anterior_cruciate_lig.html

We are happy to announce that Sully recovered well from his surgery. He needed a full eight weeks of rest, recovery and rehab and handled it like a champ. The hardest thing was keeping him from bouncing around, especially when he would see his favorite thing in the world - his kong toy! 

Sully was adopted in January 2011 but sadly, we had to say goodbye to him in May 2011. Sully's sudden and unexpected death was believed to be from a gastrointestinal event such a mesenteric torsion or something similar. We dont know for sure but we do know that he became sick very rapidly and was taken immediately to a vet. He was in shock and died very shortly after arrival. We are so grateful that he had a very happy life with his wonderful, adoptive family. Goodbye, Sully, you will be forever in our hearts.