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10/31/2024 1:27 PM
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German Shepherd Dog : : Female : : Adult
(6-7 yrs old) Good with dogs, large and small, cats and kids.
Meet Cricket! Cricket was affectionately named for her cute lil hop! You see, she HAS four legs, but currently only uses three. Cricket has a common GSD ailment called hip displaysia. It has gotten so bad in her right hip that in order to minimize pain, she does not bear any weight on her right rear leg. How did she end up in such bad shape…? When GSRA was notified that Cricket, then called Louise, was at the shelter, we were told that she had some kind of hip or pelvis injury. It was so severe that it was impossible for the shelter to get x-rays to diagnose the problem so Cricket would not be put up for adoption. Intrigued by her condition, I had to meet her and see for myself! Sure enough….she was in pretty bad shape! She was kenneled with her “sister”, Thelma, who’d she’d been picked up stray with. Thelma was shy, but her overall health wasn’t too bad and she ended up being adopted from the shelter. Cricket on the other hand, was skinny as a rail, in pain, and COVERED in the most flea dirt I’d ever seen on a dog before. The moment she leaned her head in to snuggle with me, I knew she was coming home with me! First step was a bath to get all that flea nastiness out of her fur. WOW…. Bath #1 was daunting, both for her to stand there so long and for me to try and get all that flea gunk out of her thick fur. Bath #2 followed a few days later to finish up the job! Second step…gaining weight! Thank God….Cricket is a good eater. 4 cups of food a day and she’s slowing gaining! Bye bye hip bones, ribs, and spine! Third step…managing pain. Daily pain meds and fish oil help manage her pain and help with joint health. Final step…Determine diagnosis and treatment. After a checkup with our vet, Cricket was diagnosed with severe hip displaysia on her right side. So bad, that most of the time her leg is freely floating in and out of joint. It was determined that the best treatment would be Femoral Head Osteotomy Surgery (FHO). In short, remove the top of the femur so that the leg is free floating, alleviating the pain caused by bone on bone contact. 10/12/11: Fast forward to now…. Cricket has been with me for about 6 weeks and my how the weeks have flown! Cricket fit into the household seamlessly with the two resident dogs, the moody cat, and my 9 yr old daughter. She’s as sweet as they come, LOVES to be rubbed on, and is completely housebroken and trustworthy in the house. Cricket loves to go for short walks and car rides and is really doing well. She’s up to 57lbs, is a happy, peppy dog, and she’s just been cleared for surgery on her hip! Surgery is scheduled for October 20th with rehab to follow. Stay tuned and check in frequently for updates on Cricket’s progress. We are estimating that she will be ready for adoption around January 2012.
UPDATE OCT 24th: Cricket had a very successful FHO surgery and is doing FANTASTIC! Stay tuned for updates as Cricket progresses through her rehab! UDPATE NOV 11th: Its been 3 weeks and Cricket continues to progress. Stitches have come out, her incision nearly completely healed and her hair is growing back! She's learning how to use her leg again and working at building muscle through several rehab activities. She's still got the "Cricket Hop", but we're working to convince her that life as a four-legged dog is pretty cool too. Videos are posted below each week, so be sure to check back often to see how she's doing!
UPDATE DEC 7th: Its been 6 weeks now since surgery and we've had our ups and downs with rehab. Physically Cricket has healed beautifully, but changing her mindset to that of a FOUR legged dog has been challenging. We've visited the Rehab clinic for consultation and suggestions and have started her on treadmill exercises along with our other exercises. The treadmill seems to really have kick- started her progress again and she's really done well in the past week (see her videos). We're currently looking into doing some work on the underwater treadmill also. Cricket's feeling better physically and her personality is starting to shine. She's moved into the 'alpha mom' role in the pack and likes to boss the others around, but her favorite thing still is to be with her people! Cricket is ready to find her special home that will commit to continuation of rehab exercises and really push her to 'be all that she can be'!
UPDATE Jan 8,2012: Cricket went on trial today!!! Check out the new picture with her new family! We also added her last YouTube video to show her progress with walking. She's doing fabulous! Good luck Ms. Cricket. We will miss you dearly! More about CricketGood with Dogs, Good with Cats, Good with Kids Special Needs: Cricket has severe hip displaysia in her rear right hip. She will need FHO surgery to repair her hip. She will need time to get healthy prior to the surgery which will be scheduled mid October, 2011. Current Scheduled Events:
Videos of Cricket:
         Other Pictures of Cricket (click to see larger version):
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