Frankie a special guest at the CAP gala

Last Saturday, for the first time since his legs were broken on Sept 20th by a hit and run driver,
Frankie walked unaided, at the Citizens for Animal Protection gala. Escorted by the 2vets who "wired" him back together, he actually pranced down the runway!
He has made such great progress that Dr Chalkley has discontinued his hydrotherapy, which he hated, and we are now on to controlled walks.
Frankie will be available for adoption after the holidays to a family with a buddy dog, so please keep an eye out for the perfect home for him.
On this Thanksgiving Day I am particularly grateful for all the many people who donated money for his surgery, taken such an interest in his progress and to Westbury Animal Hospital which has done so much for me over the years.

Frankie pulls another cast off!

He's really feeling good and probably does it for all the attention he gets at Westbury Animal Hospital as well. Everyone there is so solicitious of him and anxious for him to recover well.
Back we went on Friday and got a dark green bandage with Dr Flores usual creative artwork on it. He's mulling what color to wear for the gala. Aaaacckk, I haven't found a dress yet!
Dr Chalkley told me that Frankie really needs to keep the bandage on and I replied
"Talk to the paw", so he gave Frankie a stern look and Frankie licked him....

Good news from Frankies vet!

Frankie pulled his turquoise cast off Sunday night so off we went Monday morning to get a new one,royal blue this time. (Thanks to my buds who have donated gas money
to the cause.)
For the first time Dr Chalkley has been openly optimistic about Frankie rather than guarded. He took more xrays and said he is healing nicely. I am so pleased.
Frankie is becoming a little rambunctious with the cooler weather and it's so good to see him feeling better, even though I have to be the bad guy and keep him curtailed.

Frankie prepares for the CAP gala!

Frankie will be an honored guest at the Citizens for Animal Protection gala on November 17th. He's mostly preparing by resting up and today went to CAP to have his picture made for the program. He is secure enough in his neutered masculinity to be able to wear turquoise Vet Wrap!

His primary care vet, Dr. Chalkley and his wife and Dr Jonathan Cooper have received special invitations to the gala also. Check out the CAP website, cap4pets.org for all the gala info.

Frankie recuperating well after tibia break

This week he is sporting a bright yellow bandage. Dr Chalkley cut out the word "BOO" in black VetWrap and it looked so cute down his cast, but Frankie demolished it on the way home before I could even get a picture.

An Italian greyhound I am fostering broke her radius and ulna last Tuesday while playing with her son; the cool weather being the culprit, so there are now 3 orthopedic cases under my care!

Frankie suffers yet another break

I can barely type this; I take him into Petsmart in a buggy on his huge pillow with a leash on so he doesn't try to jump out, yet he did today and broke the tibia in his already mangled leg. I was standing by him and still couldn't reach him fast enough as he went over the opposite side of the buggy.
Kim from CAP immediately drove in from Sugarland on her day off to Fry Road and rushed him back to Dr Chalkley at Westbury.I just happened to have doggie pain meds in my truck so that helped. Initials xrays aren't great, they will do some more diagnostic work on Friday and see if they can still try to save the leg.
Dr C was nice enough to worry about the extension of my time involved with doing the rehab, but I told him that was not a problem.
Except for horrendous pain at first, Frankie was wagging his tail and licking everyones hands at the clinic, what a great dog he is.
I feel so badly about this.

Frankie is REALLY tired of resting up!

He wants to play and snuggle, poor baby.
He is being very good and is not fighting being in the crate. Today is the first time I have left him for any length of time; I do have other foster dogs that need some attention also.....
Today I am at CAP with a beautiful black cocker spaniel named Lady and Frankie's suitemate, Monte, the Jack Russell.

Yet another setback for Frankie

When Dr Chalkley took xrays to repair the pin migration on Tuesday, the bones hadn't healed enough for him to operate safely, so Frankie has 2 more weeks of crate rest, then we'll try again.
The good news is that he got neutered!

I am so grateful for the generosity of Houstonians who have helped Frankie and are keeping in touch.

Oh no, Frankie suffers a setback!

The pin in the really bad leg has slipped so Dr Chalkley has to go back in next Tuesday and do some corrective work. I'm so disappointed, Frankie is feeling really well and wants to move around. This was not a total surprise due to the bone damage,
but creates more problems since it now delays his rehab even more and lessens his
percentage of muscle recovery.
I'm pretty down today about it. He is such a precious boy.

Another good check up today for Frankie

and yet another new bandage! He is so good during all that has to be done to him, either licking or wagging his tale much of the time.

He is trying to use the back leg every once in a while and is using the front leg very well. I no longer have to hold him up while he's outside, YEA!!! He is not yet allowed to walk much, but he really wants to badly....

Dr Chalkley is hoping the soft cast can be eliminated on Friday.

Thanks to Dr Flores for the artwork on his cast!

Frankie has a great checkup!

On Friday he got his sutures out and the front leg looks very good. He is now supposed to exercise it a little except the back leg is not ready for exercise yet! He had that cast changed and the leg looks pretty good; the muscles are contracting and need physical therapy except he needs the cast on for a while longer so we can't get started yet. Dr Chalkley at Westbury Animal Hospital took more xrays to make sure
of his progress. He also removed the sutures on that leg.
We go back on Tuesday for another evaluation.
The Chronicle ran an expanded article on Frankie on Friday and more donations have started coming in. There is currently about 1800.00 of the 3000.00 needed in Frankies Fund at CAP.

Frankie gets a check up today at the vet

He had his bandage changed and a new medicine added to the two he's already taking.
Dr Chalkley is pleased with his progress. We are watching closely for infection
in the more severely injured leg.
Many thanks to those who have asked about him and so graciously brought donations to
CAP.

17 lb dog survives hit and run; left with 2 broken legs

Last Friday, this precious baby was hit and left. People drove right by him. Thank
God a good samaritan finally stopped and took him to Citizens for Animal Protection.
More goodness ensued as an employee came to work early and so could take him in. He was rushed to a vet for triage; shelters cannnot usually pay the kind of vet bill
his injuries entailed so have to keep the pet as comfortable hoping for an owner to show up. (He had no id, nor was he neutered).

By the time he sat at the shelter all weekend he tugged at everyones' heartstrings,
including mine, so I decided to try to raise funds to fix his broken legs. In fact
I took a big gamble and arranged for the surgery before even getting a chance to
raise any money!

Westbury Animal Hospital has been helping me do rescue since 1991 and Dr Jeff Chalkley did a tremendous job in this orthopedic repair. He started at 2:30 and with the help of Dr Jonathan Cooper and head honcho Dr L D Eckerman finally finished
at 6 pm on Tuesday. It was so extensive they were not able to neuter him so will do it later.
Frankie is still not out of the woods; if infection sets he, he may still lose one leg. We will be going back twice a week for check ups and are looking at a several month rehabilitation period. I'll be posting updates and pictures as often as possible.