Our Jay Jay has had quite the arduous journey. When he arrived at our shelter, our staff noticed right away that there was something wrong with his rear end. One of our staff commented that he looked like he sashayed across the room. We took Jay Jay, the 6 month-old border collie to Animal Clinic Northview to get X-Rays done and see what was going on with his hips. As it turns out, he basically had no hips! At first, we thought it was a genetic condition, but we would later discover that this was due to some sort of trauma or abuse.
Despite all that this pup had been through, Jay Jay had a wonderful and playful personality. We could also tell that his hips were causing him discomfort. He would tire quickly after even a short walk or a little play. Mostly, he just wanted to rest his head in your lap and look up at you with his puppy dog eyes. The Friendship APL team decided that the best outcome for Jay Jay would be to have him find a wonderful, adoptive family prior to correcting his hip issues. Within a week, Jay Jay was off to his new home. The Francis’ were the perfect home. They allowed him to adjust to his new life. They carried him up and down the stairs to bed every night. You could just tell that they all adored each other.
Jay Jay made his first trip to see Dr. Day at Metropolitan Vet Clinic. He determined that Jay Jay needed to wait until he was at least 10 months old before undergoing surgery. He would require not one total hip replacement surgery but two. This surgery is very risky, as the veterinarian has no idea what he is going to find until the surgery has begun. He warned us of all the possible things that could go wrong. We weighed that against the possibility of a long, healthy and pain free life. The risk was worth it!
On April 19th, Jay Jay had his first hip replacement surgery. We all had our fingers and paws crossed as we waited for news on the surgery. When Dr. Day called and let us know that the surgery had gone great, we all breathed a sigh of relief. When the owners met me to pick him up, they were overcome with joy and held him in their arms.
Right now, Jay Jay is recovering from the surgery. It will still be weeks before we know how well the hip works. He will then have to do it all over again. Thankfully, he is getting all the TLC he could possibly ever want from the best adopters a dog could hope to find.
