I took BHRR’s Ava Marie in to see Dr. Liston today and he agrees that the right one is the worst one right now and should possibly be the one considered to be repaired first. When it is time to do her first surgeyr, he will re-evaluate then. In looking at the X-Rays, one can see the calcification and bone spurs that have already been occuring and from the X-Rays; the left cruciate appears to have been injured well before the right for that one had more bone spurs, calcification plus more arthritis setting in. The right cruciate rupture is more recent and there is less bone spurs, calcification plus arthritis and clearly causing her the most pain at this moment and she is in a lot of pain. The Deramaxx continues to be given to Ava Marie daily. The move forward plan of attack is for me to draw blood and we will do her presurgical bw plus a HWT and we need her to lose at least 30 pounds within the next 8 weeks to schedule the cruciate repair on the right leg ASAP. So, our timeframe is the first week and a bit in May of 2010. It is just not feasible to do it before then and honestly it is not safe either. In talking to the Vet, we discussed that she is getting 6 cups of food within 3-4 meals a day and we talked about reducing her even further to get her down to 4 cups of food a day to get her where we need to by the May timeframe for the best chance of this surgery working for Ava Marie. I had originally looked at 4 cups yet felt that was too drastic so soon after her arrival and we will work on transitioning her down even further to 4 cups. Her weight today was now 184.80 pounds(84 KGS) – yet she was a waggle butt on the scale – and I know that she has lost weight since her arrival for she did not even begin to eat until last night nor drink well.  I am going to weigh her weekly and stay in regular touch with the Vet to keep them updated on her progress. As we cannot really exercise to assist in the weight loss needed; this will be a challenge. One we must face and overcome in order to truly save her life. The Vet and I will re-visit that left cruciate once she is under for while he could not feel any displacement today; she was tensing that leg making it hard to really examine it. The right leg is not only obvious in watching her yet the Vet could easily feel the damage upon manipulation. We know that the X-Rays are from February 5th and even in those, the leg knee has undergone much transformation from when it had to have been first hurt and we shall see what it feels like when she is under for her right cruciate repair by the Vet. AND then again 4 weeks after her right side has undergone surgery. I told the Vet that if he feels that he might have to take more X-Rays at the time of her surgery, to please do so. It might not be possible to do surgery on that left leg at all by then due to all the time that has past before she even came to BHRR and now that she is at BHRR, the right one is in far worse condition and how it has begun to ‘heal’ and ‘scar’ even before those X-Rays were taken a month+ ago.  🙁 Yet one step at a time. AND as we believe in full disclosure at BHRR and I did mention it above, BHRR’s Ava Marie does have the beginings of arthritis in her knees and this is not something that is going to go away. She is on Glusosamine plus Omega and if anyone wishes to donate any of these items to her cause; please email Gwen. She goes through a lot in a day!  😉 Should BHRR’s Ava Marie rehab well; I also see no reason that she could not be placed up for adoption BUT she will not go to a home that does tons of hiking and hills and other types of activities that would not be of benefit to her size, arthritis and past history of having two blown cruciates. SHE was a huge hit at the hospital and travelled great in the car! One man thought she was the largest Dalmation he ever saw and when I said ‘no, sorry, she is a Great Dane’; he went….’oh yeah, right lady’… LOL LOL I do not think he believed me!

I also wish to take this opportunity to publicly thank EVERYONE that has donated, cross-posted and supported BHRR since we committed to assisting her! I have sent such deep thanks in person, emails and in phone calls all that I am aware of who have donated and to those that donated anonymously via directly to Liston Animal Hospital for BHRR’s Ava Marie; I wish to THANK all of YOU as well and will have to do so via Ava Marie’s blog; for I cannot do so in another means as I do not know who you are.  🙂 BUT you are equally so special to our hearts with your kindness shown and I want you to know that your contributions mean the world to BHRR’s Ava Marie to give her a quality of life that she should be living. I do not think I have had a moment in the past almost 24 hours that I have not felt a tear in my eye with PPSS and then with the continued warmth from everyone to date that has helped BHRR’s Ava Marie. Every single person who has helped is what makes BHRR so special and successful and may one day, I be able to meet you in person to express my feelings of gratefulness.