Isabella's Story

Last night we had the honor of welcoming a special new puppy t0 our home. Her name is Isabella and the first 12 weeks of her life have been pretty rough, but happily, things have taken a change for the better. Little Izzy (as we call her) is a beautiful blue tri-color rattie with the silkiest coat imagineable. She likely came from a puppymill or backyard breeder who is in-breeding, as she has a congenital birth defect that is common in small dog breeds that are irresponsibly bred.

Both of Izzy's back legs have luxating patellas. Typically a dogs kneecap sits in two grooves which keep it aligned and allow it to move up and down, but not side to side. In a dog with a luxating patella (kneecap) the grooves are very shallow and/or the tendons that hold things together are attached crookedly. The result is that the patella can pop to the side, causing pain and lameness. Sometimes, in mild cases, it is fine to leave things as is. The knee will pop back into place and after a short while the dog will be walking normally. However in severe cases such as Izzy's, the problem is constant. With both rear legs affected, eventually it will cause arthritis and total lameness.

Izzy's case was pretty bad, but to make matters worse, someone stepped on her foot early on, breaking the toes. The foot was allowed to heal incorrectly and the bones in the broken toes fused together, pulling off to the side. This put even more stress on her knee.

Here her sad story changes though. Izzy was dumped at the Town Lake Animal Center in Austin, Texas, one of the most rescue-friendly shelters around. They had x-rays run, had her seen at the emergency veterinary hospital, and presented her prognosis to the New Rattitude Rat Terrier Rescue volunteer in the area. She was vaccinated, spayed and had a microchip inserted and they offered to reimburse New Rattitude $250 of the surgery necessary to repair her knees.

Well, who could pass up such a sweet, beautiful little baby like this one! Our volunteer pulled her from the shelter and little Izzy was flown with all her medical information to Seattle. She has been seen by the veterinarians who take care of all our foster dogs, and they have offered to do the surgery at a greatly reduced rate of about $1,000. We have applied for a grant that would cover $300 of the surgery, so at this point we have $550 raised for the surgery. That still leaves $450, which for a rescue group who is scraping by to just cover vaccinations and spay/neuter surgeries, is a lot of money. Right now surgery is on hold until we can raise enough money. If anyone can donate any money toward little Izzy's surgery, it would be greatly appreciated. Any amount would help! Let's get this little dog running and playing, pain-free, like a normal puppy. Donations can be made by clicking on the New Rattitude Paypal donation button you see on the left side of this blog (near the top) or can be mailed to New Rattitude, P.O. Box 14064, Lansing, Michigan, 48901. Just make sure to note that the donations are for Isabella's surgery. Thanks so much! I'll keep you posted on how Izzy is doing and how the fundraising is progressing.

Currently she is dealing with kennel cough on top of everything else, poor girl. In spite of everything though, she always has a kiss to greet people and still loves having snuggle time.