Bella

Profile

Sponsored by:

Joan Barnes
"In memory of Bogey"

September 18, 2012

Introducing Bella, a 1 year old female golden mix who came to us from North Carolina. Here is Bella’s story: Bella was brought to a shelter in North Carolina after being hit by a car. She eventually found her way into foster care, and after an initial misdiagnosis of Bella’s injury, her foster was told by a new vet that Bella’s hip had been damaged in the car accident and that she needed FHO (Femoral Head Ostectomy) surgery in order to be able to walk without pain. Fortunately, another rescue in the Twin Cities, Happy Hounds, has “adopted” Bella’s North Carolina shelter and frequently brings dogs up to MN. Happy Hounds contacted RAGOM to see if we would be able to get Bella the surgery she needed, and we said yes! Happy Hounds arranged transport for Bella to the cities, and she arrived here one week ago.

Me and my new friend Rosie

Two days later, Bella visited a surgical specialist who performed FHO surgery on her that day. Turns out the break was in the neck of the femur bone, not the hip bone. In FHO surgery the surgeon removes the head of the femur bone (the “ball” that goes into the hip socket) plus the upper “neck” of the bone. The body then creates a false joint out of scar tissue so that when Bella walks, her leg bone will push against the sling of scar tissue instead of pushing on the hip bone and causing pain.

Bella is now one week into recovery and is doing well. She is listed as “unavailable” right now, as we want to wait until her stitches come out and her “lamp shade” can come off (she wears it so that she doesn’t lick the stitches) so we can see what kind of personality she has before finding the right forever family for her. Here is what we know about Bella so far: she is very sweet and loves to snuggle, has done well with dogs, cats, and kids. We think she will love playing with other dogs, she’s tried to play here a few times but we have to stop it until she is 2 weeks post surgery. She also still chews (as puppies this young often do) – this may be exacerbated by the fact that she’s bored to tears wearing a lampshade all day and not being able to run and play – but when she walked up and started gnawing the edge of my coffee table it was definitely a sign she likes to chew!

Bella’s recovery is different then most surgeries – she has to stay quiet for only 2 weeks while the incision heals, then it’s all the exercise we can pack into each day to develop the scar tissue and muscle mass she needs. Day 14 is going to be one fun day around here! Many thanks to RAGOM for paying for Bella’s surgery – saving dogs like Bella is costly but one look at her face and you know it’s worth it. Bella would love it if you would donate to help cover the costs of her care, and she would be ecstatic to find her own sponsor – every day she wakes up and kisses everyone in the family to let them know how grateful she is that all the wonderful RAGOM supporters made it possible for her to be rescued and live a pain free life.

Naptime on the couch with Macy, my favorite person

Bedtime – boy do I have a good gig going

Bella will be at GOLDZILLA this weekend – look for her being wheeled around in her very own retro-fitted Burley bike trailer! She would love to meet you and give you kisses. She can only stay until noon so be sure and say hello to her before then!

Check it out – I have my very own Burley and I get to go on walks even though my leg has stitches!