Sweet Gracie had to be rushed to the ER when her rear foot swelled twice its size.  We did surgery on the hind foot to repair broken metatarsal bones almost three months ago. Gracie was doing fantastic. She had no issues with her foot until it suddenly swelled, and she refused to use it.

She was admitted to the ER at CVRC, where they took x-rays and did bloodwork.  Gracie clearly had a terrible infection that had gone from nothing to something almost overnight. Dr. Rachel Seibert was her surgeon this morning and was in charge of determining what had gone wrong.  Gracie's x-rays showed that the plates held the bones together but did not show the bones forming more bone to fill the breaks.

Once Dr. Seibert opened up Gracie's foot to expose the plates, she found a pocket of infected fluid that had formed over the plates and screws.  Not sure if a screw had come loose enough to irritate the area, which caused the infection to spread, or if the infection had been forming for a long time.

Whatever caused the infection prevented the bones from forming new bone. The plates were of no use now and had to be removed. Once an area becomes infected, no new plates can be put in.  The plates were removed, the infected area was flushed thoroughly, and cultures were taken. A soft cast was put on the foot to allow the site to heal.  The cast will have to be removed, and bandage changes will be done every other day.

CVRC is starting Gracie on a broad-spectrum antibiotic while waiting for the culture results to come back. She will have to remain in the hospital until they feel the infection is under control.  

Sweet does not even begin to describe this fabulous Mini-Aussie. Gracie has come so far since the day we rescued her.  She was initially frightened of her own shadow.  Any noise or someone coming toward her caused her to run, hide and shake uncontrollably.  She was a definite flight risk and was not allowed out of our kennel area for the first month.

Gracie will now come up to you, allow you to pet her, and give her kisses.  She loves being outside with the other dogs and enjoys being around the smaller dogs. I thought it would take about a year to see the results we are seeing now after three months.  Once Gracie's foot has healed, and she is out of her cast, she can be placed in a loving home.

All this special girl wants is to be in someone's lap and be close to her person.  She is very low-key and does not act like a young dog.   She acts more like an older dog that is happy just being with people she loves.  If you think she would be suitable for your Family, please drop us a note.

In the meantime, we have to raise funds for her surgery and ER visit at CVRC.  Even with our discounts, the medical bills are through the roof.  Please, DONATE whatever you can so we can save Gracie's foot.

Thanks for helping us with all of our pups at Noah's Arks Rescue.  Your support is greatly appreciated.