Oh that does not look good..

WIshing you guys the best with her and what you decide for her.

Oh no!

I know! It looks terrible. I honestly don't know how she is getting around as well as she is considering how messed up it is in there.

Ok so I mixed up a 5lb batch of satin balls. I was a big dummy and forgot the eggs, but I figure I'll just crack an egg over them every time I feed them to her (I'm thinking 3 times a day). So the recipe never really says how much should be fed at a time so how much should I give her at once? I want to make sure she is getting the maximum benefit from them.

Here's a video I took of Storm this evening when I took her out for some exercise. She has so much more energy and is getting around so much better than she was when we brought her home. She's not gaining weight as quickly as I would like for her too, but I do think she looks better than she did. We're still feeding Satin balls 4X a day and free feeding TOTW kibble. I thought you guys might like an update.

Oh and please ignore my super hick accent. English teacher or not, I grew up in Appalachia and it shows.

She looks much happier! Definately still thin.

She looks so happy playing there.. You have done a wonder thing for her..

She still is skinny just give her time.

Oh my goodness she looks so much better and HAPPY! She is skinny, but she'll gain the weight in time!

So happy she's with you!

Oh, and I think your accent is cute! You should hear my Miami accent...ha

I was just thinking about Storm today. This is so great to see! After seeing that x-ray of her pelvis, I'm shocked by how well she is actually moving and getting around. She looks happy despite her condition. You are taking such good care of her and I bet once she has her surgery and is fully recovered, you won't be able to keep up with her.

She is such a pretty girl.

She's sooo pretty! You're doing a great thing for her & I'm glad she stumbled upon you (and your friend haha). She's getting along well despite her pelvis.. Can't wait to see how she is when she's had the surgery & is recovered! Keep us posted!

If nothing works I would shave it out, Sorry but to irritate the skin by trying to comb it out seems more cruel then her looking a little funny for awhile, your better odd with a clipper then scissors to do so as there is less risk of accidentally cutting her. It does look like some sort of tar, without being able to bath her(And even that would take a couple times) your best bet is A.Cut it out yourself or B.ask them to shave it when she has surgery since she will be knocked out anyways

I hadn't checked in for a while, so I figured I would give an update. About a week ago, I gave Storm her second dose of worm pills as it had been 2 weeks since the last dose. Wow, what a difference that has made. She is finally starting to put on weight like I would like her too. You can no longer see her ribs, but her stomach area is still somewhat sunken in and her hip bones still stick out. She's still being very careful of her hip when she goes to sit down, but she doesn't seem to be in as much pain from it as she did when we got her. I think having the extra fat and muscle around it is helping to keep it stable until we can get it fixed.

As far as how she looks, almost all of the tar has worn off of her now, and she's feeling much better. Her hair is even growing back in and she's finally developing a brush on her tail. She's still very nervous and whines and cries a lot when left alone. She has come to trust everyone in my family, but is still very nervous and afraid when strangers are around her. When we rehome her after this is all done, it's going to take a very dedicated family to work with her on her separation anxiety and fear.

I'm thinking of rescheduling her surgery for Mid December so that it coincides with my Christmas Break from school. Since the surgery isn't as time pressing as we originally though, if we do that, I won't have to work and can be there with her 24/7 during her recovery. By that time, she should be at a healthy, normal weight and have any other issues resolved as well. I'll try to take some new pics or video this week to show you guys her progress.

I took her back to the vet Monday for a checkup because she was limping and holding her right foot against her body. Her busted hip is her left one, and so she usually hops on that side, but she was hopping on the other side and bearing weight on the left. She was in obvious discomfort. Additionally, she'd been chewing and digging at the left hip and has started to wear a patch of hair off.

The vet said that she thinks she is having some sort of allergy issue and recommended giving her benadryl if it continues and gave me some medicine to put on the wound where it is raw and has lost hair. She also put her on a round of antibiotics to prevent any infection. Her right foot was swollen and so the vet decided to Xray. We've not quite figured out how, but she's fractured her foot. It's not very severe, but she has a small bone fragment that is visible in the Xray. The vet said it didn't need a splint, but that she needed to be on strict crate rest for the next couple of weeks while it heals. She isn't very happy about this. They decided to up her pain meds for the next week or two. She's already bearing weight on it again, but I am stumped as to how it happened in the first place.

Now for the good news. Her weight is up! She weighed 53.2 lbs. She was at 40 lbs last time we were there. She's still skinny and could stand to gain 5-10 more lbs before surgery. She's a tall girl, at least a head taller than either of mine, and so her weight is going to be on the high end for a female when she's totally healthy. We're looking to schedule her FHO surgery around December 19th. That's my last day of work before Christmas break, and so I'll have two weeks off with her while she is recovering.

Anyway, just wanted to give an update. I've been super busy lately so I haven't been around much.

Aw poor Storm I'm glad she's finally gaining weight She'll be feeling way better in no time!

good to hear she is gaining weight.

Poor girl sorry to hear she has fractured her foot.

Had Miss Storm back to the vet today. Despite giving her benadryl every 8 hours, she is still digging, scratching, and biting sores all over herself. The vet seems to think she has some sort of seasonal allergy and would've given her a steroid shot except she's still on the Rimadol for pain and she said it would case an adverse reaction. Now she's on a prescription antihistimine, topical medicine for her wounds, an antibiotic, and is in the cone of shame. Poor girl is miserable. It's been a long time since I've seen the scared, trembly girl she was when we got her, but she's terrified by this cone and is trembling and crying like a baby again. I feel so bad for her, but on the other hand I don't want her biting sores all over herself either. To top it off, she's starting into heat. =( No wonder she's been so anxious and discontented lately in her crate. Poor girl can't catch a break

I guess the only plus we got out of today's visit is that she's gained almost 2 lbs since I switched her over to puppy chow TOTW.

Thanks for all you do for her.. I am so sorry to hear of her problems. but just give it time and she will improve. I am thinking of you guys all the time.

April, I would suggest you find a holistic vet - I don't think all the meds are helping.

Did they by chance put pins in her hip? She may be having an allergic reaction to the metal.

She hasn't had her hip surgery yet. We had to put it off because she was too emaciated to do it when we first had it scheduled. They won't be putting in any pins though. It is too fragmented to pin back together, so they will be doing a femoral head ostectomy to create a false socket.

She's gaining and is almost at a healthy weight, but they want her to gain 5-10 more lbs before surgery. We're shooting for middle of December so that I can be off with her (Christmas break from school) to better take care of her during recovery time. I will look around, but we live in a very rural area of Eastern Kentucky. I'm not sure that we have a holistic vet any where near us.

http://ahvma.org/Widgets/FindVet.html

I wont use pain meds anymore.. for me or the dogs. But that's just a personal preference. Instead I take arnica and herbs. For.inflammation I take fish oils and I super dose on vitamin c when I suspect infection or virus.

I know, im weird..but a holistic approach could.very well help.

Sorry for typos. On phone

According to that site, the closest holistic vet to where we live is 6 hours away =(.

She does seem better today, so I think the stronger antihistamine has helped with her itching. She hasn't been scratching or trying to bite today. I took her collar off of her in the middle of the night because she couldn't get comfortable at all and I had been up and down with her at least 5 times. She's finally calm now and is resting comfortably in her crate.

You are amazing taking care of this poor girl!! She just can't get a break! We have done alot of FHO surgeries at my work and all I can say is it's amazing how well they do...never back to 100% but the good news is that she will never have to worry about arthritis in that hip when she is older since there will be scar tissue instead of bone.
Wishing you the best of luck!!

Update? Did she have surgery yet?

Thanks for checking in on her. She hasn't had surgery yet because of a lot of issues, but I am taking her back to the vet on Monday and I am hoping he will release her for surgery then. We had about 4 vet visits for the skin and itching problems. I came home from work one day and she had managed to get her e-collar off and had scratch every bit of the hair and skin off the back of each of her ears She was a bloody mess so I took her back to the vet for wound care and while I was there I told him that I really didn't feel that it was allergies causing her I itch so badly. He had scraped her looking for scabies on the previous visit and couldn't find them, but he scraped her again that visit. Still couldn't find them, but he felt that's what she had because other severity of it. So he put her on a weekly dose of a liquid (ivermectin I think) for the next 4 weeks. That must have been the problem, even though none of my other animals have had any signs or symptoms, because the scratching and itching stopped and her hair has started growing back in. She finished her last dose of that on Dec 19th, and I was going to take her in for surgery consult the next day, but it snowed and was icy and whe. I took her out to potty, I slipped on the ice and heard a loud pop in my knee and had major swelling. I ended up with a grade 2 MCL sprain ad I've been on crutches and in a brace for the past 2 weeks . Anyway, the vet she sees was out on the 21st until this Monday for vacation, so I haven't been able to take her back in to see if she's cleared. I am fairly sure they will go ahead and schedule it if they feel her skin has improved enough.