Wait for me!  The little brown puppy struggled to keep up with her siblings as they ran and played.  She was always behind, running furiously to catch her playmates.  Little Savannah had been born with a malformed back left leg.  All of the foot below the ankle joint was missing.  The leg wasn’t really long enough to use, but she often tried and that made her gait awkward and distorted the use of her good leg.

      At one time the three little puppies probably had a home.  They probably had a mother and been housed and fed.  But somewhere along the line, everything had gone wrong.  When the mail carrier found them, they had been abandoned in the desert to fend for themselves.  Little puppies would have no chance of surviving in that environment and Savannah had the added complication of her missing foot.

      The rescue group that had received them originally called to ask if we had any ideas on how they could best handle her deformity, but our question to them was “How soon can they get here?  We will be happy to take them all and do whatever is medically necessary for Savannah.”

      So the little ones arrived.  Emma and Emmit were altered and placed up for adoption but after examining Savannah, the veterinarian decided it would be best to remove her leg.  At the length of the leg currently, it was just a bit too short to be used for walking normally and it was so long it was impacting the use of her good leg.  The surgery would enable her to hold it up better and allow her to use her three good legs without negative impacts.

      We made sure she was healthy before we did the surgery.  We altered her first and allowed her to recover about a week before we did the more complicated leg procedure.  The surgery went very smoothly and by the end of the day she was slowly hopping around.  It is always amazing how quickly puppies heal and adapt.  After watching her for a few days we decided she needed a friend so she was paired with another puppy about the same age.  They hit it off immediately and are playing together well. 

      Savannah is a very lucky puppy.  The surgery she had at Helen Woodward Center will allow her to lead a happy and normal life.  After she is adopted, we look forward to hearing from her forever family and seeing pictures of her growing up.