We think Nellie was hit by a car and managed to drag herself home unable to walk on either rear leg. Her family left her at a vet's office for several days while trying to make a decision about her care but fortunately for Nellie she was surrendered to GPRA. She started her 11 month, over $10,000 journey to health when she arrived at our orthopedic surgeons on 10/27/15.
She had a dislocated hip and a left distal tibia fracture and had the first of her three surgeries on 10/28/15. Fortunately for Nellie, our orthopedic specialist, Dr. Matt Corse refused to give up on Nellie's leg. In addition to the surgeries he also performed three specialty treatments to enhance her healing process.
On June 4th Nellie came to adoption days for an outing but no one expected that her future family would find her that day.
As
we approached the sea of polar bears outside the Dunwoody PetSmart I had to remind myself we were just there to pet the dogs, nothing more. After almost a year of marriage we had started to come around to the idea that we might be ready to adopt a fur baby, but knew this was something we wanted to be 100% sure about before we began this journey. We made our rounds and were about to leave when we saw a small girl with a face unlike any other and a large contraption, called an external fixator, on her leg. Nearly an hour later we found ourselves in the exact same spot petting this sweet girl and learning every bit of information we could about her. We were blown away by her story, the generosity of GPRA in saving this PYR, and willpower of this pup to live a normal, happy life.
After spending time talking with some of the wonderful GPRA volunteers, it was clear how special Nellie was and how much she meant to them, so we were very honored and excited when potentially doing a foster-to-adopt program was brought up. It was the perfect situation for all of us while Nellie finished the last few months of her long road of recovery -- GPRA wanted to make sure we were the right fit for their sweet Nellie, and we wanted to make sure we could offer the loving home Nellie deserved. The next week we picked Nellie up from VCA, she had the external fixator removed the day before and replaced with a hard cast and wrap. At that time, Nellie was on very limited walking restrictions to prevent any setbacks. We have since that day, witnessed that strong-willed pup gradually increase her walking, get her cast off, officially become ours and ultimately be cleared to run and play like any other normal pup!
It has been a long journey, but she is finally living the fun, pain free, puppy life she deserves and is happy as can be! Nellie truly is a special Pyr. She has been such a furry little blessing to our lives and we love her more than we ever could have thought possible. We cannot emphasize enough how thankful we are to GPRA for everything they did for Nellie, and all the other PYRS that they have so selflessly cared for.
Each PYR above represents $1,000 donated. As we progress toward our goal of raising enough to save 60 PYRS, a PYR will be "turned" for each $1,000 raised
