Frankie’s Friends Hope Fund helped Ziggie receive the life changing surgery he needed to repair instability of his proximal intercarpal joint at BluePearl in Gwinnett, GA. This is an update from Ziggie’s family.
“Just some background on our sweet boy: Ziggie is a mastiff lab mix that was rescued when he was 11 months old. He was the most nervous and terrified dog that I have ever seen. I volunteer with transports at a local animal rescue, so I have certainly seen my fair share. He trembled violently and refused to make any kind of eye contact. He pulled at my heartstrings and before I knew it, he joined our ever growing pack. He spent the first 10-12 month with us hiding under my bed. He would come out every three days and run down the stairs with our other rescues, (we have four others), run out back to do his business and then sit on the deck trembling and refusing to come in. We tried luring him in with bones and steak, but nothing would work. We finally just hid in the laundry room and he would eventually run back up the stairs and lay under my bed and we would not see him again for another three days. This cycle continued for 10-12 months, and finally over time bit by bit he began to trust us and now he is just a big love bug and is so happy to romp and play with his siblings and snuggle with us on the couch. We have had him now for 6 years and he is family.
In January of 2019, he was out playing in the backyard and somehow he hurt his front left leg. We really do not know what happened. He hopped in on three legs and his front leg was very swollen at the lower joint and he would not weight bear at all. I took him into BluePearl Veterinary Emergency Hospital for evaluation by their orthopedist. X-rays did not reveal a fracture but showed a luxation or malalignment of the metacarpals. Dr. Nelson indicated that we were looking at surgery consisting of a partial arthrodesis (fusing the bones in his wrist) which will allow him to regain 80% of his mobility. The top part of the wrist was still intact, so he can expect to regain 80% mobility and be pain free. Due to his size and the extent of the damage, Dr. Nelson did not feel that it would ever heal on its own. This was a 4700 dollar surgery and then you add the weekly splint changes and post op x-rays and visits, it added up very quickly to a whole lot of money that I did not have. I opened up more credit cards to pay for this and prayed for a successful outcome. Unfortunately, this did not happen and the fusion did not take. He would need another surgery, this time a full arthrodesis of that same joint. I did not have another 4700 dollars, nor the extra income for all of the post op expenses. Ziggie had now been in a splint for a year and a half while I tried to come up with the money to pay for this second surgery. He would sit at the window and look out at the other dogs playing....he looked so pitiful as of course during this whole time he has had to be restrained and on full activity restriction.
The staff at BluePearl were fantastic and reached out to Frankie’s Friends for financial assistance. Because of Frankie’s friends, Ziggie had his second surgery and is now on the road to recovery. His splint was removed in May and the joint is fused with the plate in place. He is still on restriction, but is now allowed to take 5 minute walks and hopefully by September he will once again be able to play with his fur siblings. If it had not been for Frankie’s Friends I truly do not know what we would have done. I had never heard of this organization before, but I guess I did not have the need so never researched it before. They are a wonderful organization that gave Ziggie his freedom back.
Thank you so much to Frankie’s Friends.”
