Poor girl. All those problems at such a young age. She's lucky to have you to take care of her. I hope she gets cleared for surgery and all goes well.

Thanks for the update. Sorry to hear of all the issues and your knee. Hoping for the best, she is very lucky to have you!

Good luck! We are all rooting for her

Sounds like she has a lot of problems at such a young age. You're taking great care of her and I hope she gets better soon. Your knee too.

Wishing you and her a fast recovery. Her with all her issues and your knee. Thanks for the update.

We had no idea how many problems she was going to have when we decided to rescue her. I had hoped to have her nursed back to health and rehomed into her forever home by the holidays, but she's a fighter and seems to be taking it all in stride. I will be so glad when she's finally healthy and can get the happiness she deserves with a great family. Thank you all for your good thoughts for her and for me.

Ok, so back from the vet. He thinks she's looking much better, but since she's still scratching hair completely off in some places, he wants to put her through another round of the ivermectin and check her again in a month. At that time, if she's completely stopped scratching her hair out, he will schedule surgery. Still playing the waiting game.

So really are her guardian angel. Hoping everything works out for you guys.

Im so glad to see how far you are going for the best for this poor girl. Not too many people would go to the length that you are going!!! You are her guardian angel. Let us know how her surgery goes - when she is reaady to be placed - and how your knee is healing. Happy New Year!!!

Hey guys, had Storm back to the vet today for a recheck. She looks AWESOME. Her skin problem is totally resolved and her hair is growing back in nicely. She's like a brand new dog. She weighed 56.7 lbs, which is still kinda lean on her because she's so tall. They want to do her spay surgery first and take a new xray of the pelvis before doing the hip surgery, so she goes in next Tuesday for her spay. They are going to re-xray her pelvis while she's out so that they can get a clear picture of how things look now. I took a few pics of her, but she was being a little camera shy so I didn't get any great pics, but at least you guys can see how much better she looks now.








Clearly, I was getting the "Please, no pictures" attitude tonight, lol

She looks alot better.. I was thinking about you guys this afternoon and here you with new pictures and updates on her. thanks,

So Storm went in for her spay this morning and I picked her up this evening. Surgery went really well. She was much more alert than I expected her to be, and now she's resting comfortable after finally getting to eat and drink some water.

My biggest concern since day 1 has been getting Storm healthy enough to have her FHO surgery to repair the damage to her pelvis. When we first got her, she was so thin and so weak and pitiful that she wouldn't have survived major surgery. She couldn't put any weight on her left leg at all and hopped around everywhere. As she has gained weight and strength, her limp has completely disappeared. To look at her and watch her run around, or to walk her and feel how stout she is, one wouldn't know that anything had ever happened to her. When we took her in for her checkup last week to confirm that she was over sarcoptic mange, the vet said that she was getting around so well that he might suggest not having the FHO done. He said it was something she might have to have eventually, but that she was getting around so well and without a limp and that it was a big surgery since they have to cut through all those muscles in the area and she will definitely have a forever limp once it's done. He was assuming that we were planning to keep her, and suggested just waiting until she actually begins having problems with it and then get it done. I told him that we had always planned to rehome her once she was healthy, and that I was concerned about sending her off to a new home without fixing the hip, especially if he felt that it was something that would eventually need to be done. My concern is that while she may be getting around fine now, she could potentially have severe arthritis issues later in life because it was so badly damaged. So he suggested doing the spay first and taking a new xray to assess the situation, which is what we did.

When I picked her up, I got to talk to the vet about her new xray and the status of her hip. He said that from looking at the xray, he can tell that she is definitely going to have problems with the hip later in life, but can't say how soon those problems might manifest. I've included pictures of the original xray and the new xray so you can understand what he's talking about. In the first xray, you can see a healthy hip on the right side, but that her left acetabulum is in multiple pieces from the impact of being hit by a car. Her left femoral head and neck is intact and looks healthy. At that time, I was told the best option was that they could go in and remove the bone fragments and use a laser to cut off the femoral head and neck which would create a fake fibrous socket for the leg, preventing the femur from rubbing against the acetabulum.

Ok, the second xray is from today. You can see that, miraculously, the acetabulum actually healed and the bone fragments have knitted back together. Unfortunately, it was in so many fragments that it healed imperfectly and didn't create a nice round socket. Now, look at the left femoral head and neck. The neck has practically disappeared, and the femoral head is rough and jagged from rubbing against the bone of the acetabulum. I'm not an expert, but that looks like pretty severe damage to have occurred in 6 months time. However, my vet still feels like surgery wouldn't be needed right now. He says that it's a pretty major surgery and isn't going to be an easy fix. He's concerned about cutting through the muscles in her leg and the extensive amount of physical therapy she will need. He also stressed that she will have a limp after surgery, probably forever. However, this limp won't be as a result of pain, it will be because of the mechanical differences in walking without a femoral head. I think he feels like since she's getting along fine now and doesn't seem to be in any pain, it would be best to wait for all that until it actually does cause her trouble. If we planned to keep her, that wouldn't be a problem, but my husband is adamant that she be rehomed.

Here are the xrays:



Personally, I would keep her if my husband would let me. She's a sweetheart, and I've grown to love her over the past 6 months. Plus, I feel very invested in her as we've spent over $1000 on her vet bills so far. However, I do not think I can convince him to let me keep her. I also do not have any prospective adopters lined up for her at this time. There was a lady in Tennessee who expressed interest in adopting her, but she hasn't returned my email from last week asking if she was still interested.

So, I have a couple of options. I could go ahead and have the surgery done in 4 weeks once she's totally healed from the spay and then go through her entire round of physical therapy so that if she goes to a new home she's completely rehabilitated. I could wait until I have a potential adopter and allow them to make the decision about her future care, although I have a feeling that her FHO surgery would be far more expensive anywhere other than my vet's office. I could beg and plead for my husband to let me keep her and just play the waiting game to see how she does and the have the surgery as it is needed.

I'm really torn about this, and would love to know your thoughts. I really appreciate all the support this community has given me during this journey, and I value your opinions.

I would go ahead and do the surgery, personally. Since she's comfortable with you guys, and no one really knows how long she will be able to go without surgery, she'd probably be more comfortable in your home undergoing physical therapy with you and your husband.

I don't think I'd be able to rehome her after having her for 6 months and watching her through so much, but that's why I'd never foster lol. Maybe try having your husband do things with her alone to get a bond going between the two of them..

Thanks for the input Jennet. Alas, my husband is a cat person. He only tolerates our two huskies because they are ours, and I already had one of them before he and I met. He didn't want me to take in Storm to begin with, and only caved after I promised him it wouldn't be for more than a couple of months. If he knew then that couple of months would turn into six, he wouldn't have ever agreed to it. On the plus side, he loves me a lot and can generally be talked in to almost anything, so I've got about a 70/30 chance of talking him into keeping her.

LOL my boyfriend is the same way, he loves cats, dogs not so much. Embry and Zoey were his limit, when he was sleeping I brought Ares home from a bad situation CL family, and he just never left lol.

I just saw this thread for the first time, so I went back and read all of the old ones. Bless you for opening your heart, home, and wallet for this poor baby. I really hope you can convince your hubby to let you keep her!! I'm sure she is completely devoted to you guys by now. My boyfriend wasn't too keen on adding Sheba, so I had a "doctors appointment" and went to the rescue to go get her and bring her home!! I am sure you will be able to work him over with your puppy eyes and her puppy eyes..how can he say no?!

I would work it on getting your husband to let you guys keep her.. I am so sure she is so bonded to you guys and your pups by now. I have no opinion on getting the surgery when.
I am sure some others with give you opinions. I would take her if Only I could talk my husband into a third dog You have a big heart for all you have done for her.

I hope you can convince your hubby to let you keep Storm! I would be too attached to her by now to let her go.

As for the surgery, do what you think is right. There is no right or wrong decision. If it was me, I would probably get it done now so she didn't have to have it at a later date when it started bothering her.

I would also try to convince your hubby of keeping her, you guys have invested so much time and I am sure she is bonded to everyone in the house. As for the surgery I personally would get it done now and go through the rehab, otherwise I think I would be to paranoid watching her and waiting for signs of aggravation.

Good luck and thanks for taking care of her!

Here are some new pictures of our girl. She's got a dirty face because she's been having fun digging a hole in the yard, lol.











And a before and after picture just to show how far she's come:

she looks so good!

I think so too. Her poor tail still looks funny because she pulled most of the hair out of it when she was dealing with the skin issue and it hasn't totally grown back in yet, but she looks 1000 times better.

Oh here's a short video clip I took of her from that day too. She's getting around great!

I read this whole thread last week while I was mooching round the forum and wow!

She has come so far after going through so much and seeing the before and after pic she looks totally different.

I'm glad she has found someone to love her I hope you can convince the husband to let her stay forever

How is Storm doing now? Did she ever have the surgery? Did you ever find a home for her?

OMG.. I was balling my eyes out reading this thread.....then too see her now is awesome!! and cheers to you guys for taking her in.