The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 7/11/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Montoya

Found wandering a Kuwaiti desert highway, she was thirsty, battered and missing a limb. Where Sally's strong, lean leg used to be was now only a stump, scraped and bleeding from efforts to walk. With no known family or home, the young canine was in a desperate situation.

But her grim circumstances didn't stop her tail from wagging playfully when she was finally picked up.

Her story would soon bring her across the globe to CSU, where she has made friends, headlines and a spot in the history books.

Sally is an almost year-old Saluki dog that was rescued early this year by a Kuwaiti chapter of Progressive Animal Welfare, or PAWS, an international volunteer group with animal shelters throughout the world.

Although it was clear she had suffered serious trauma, PAWS, along with local veterinarians, were able to nurse her back to health in just a few weeks. And, despite the still unknown accident that caused her to be crippled, Sally quickly won their hearts with her playful spirit.

Not used to being limited to three legs, Sally continued over the next several weeks to try and use her stump like the foot that used to be there, running and digging with the other dogs. This use continuously reopened the wound and kept it from healing completely.

Local Kuwaiti vets suggested complete amputation of the leg, but Steve Holden, a CSU graduate living in Kuwait and volunteer for PAWS, wanted a second opinion. After growing close with Sally during her stay with PAWS, he hated the thought of her losing the use of her fourth leg completely.

"I wanted to explore all the options before amputating, so I contacted CSU, cause I knew they were the best in the world," Holden said. "I wanted to give her the best care I could."

And he found that care with Eric Egger, a veterinarian specializing in small animal orthopedics at CSU's James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Egger had recently been asked by veterinarian Robert Taylor in Denver to look for possible candidates for a new kind of prosthesis he was working on, done only a few times in the U.S.

The procedure involved having the bone grow into the prosthetic limb, becoming an actual part of the dog's body. This is supposed to keep the animal form chewing it off, and requires less maintenance than a standard prosthetic leg, Egger said. The technology could one day also be applied to humans.

Continued...

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