Success Stories

Cappy

Cappy was rescued from a puppy mill where she was kept outside in a single kennel with three other breeding females. Her sole purpose in life was to produce puppies to be sold to pet stores. A couple of weeks after she came into our rescue, she suffered two ruptured disks in her spine which caused her to lose the use of her back legs. In order to relieve her pain and to prevent her from being paralyzed for life, she needed surgery.

This is Cappy a few days after her surgery. She has to be confined for eight weeks in order for her back to heal. She is walked outside several times a day with a sling supporting her back legs. Her foster mom visits with her regularly and she has a cat friend named "B" who keeps her company in her room.

About two weeks after her surgery, Cappy started to stand for brief moments. If you look closely at her back legs in this picture, you can see her standing.

Six weeks after Cappy's surgery, she is still being walked with a sling, but she is starting to bear more weight on her back legs and trying to walk on her own. Her legs are still wobbly and she sometimes gets them crossed as she tries to walk, but she is showing tremendous improvement.

Seven weeks after Cappy's surgery, she is now able to walk on her own. She still wobbles a bit, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all. Cappy can motor around the yard very well. After seven weeks of crate confinement and being walked with a sling, she is so happy to be able to explore the yard on her own.

Eight weeks after Cappy's surgery, she is getting around a little better every day. Check out her videos by clicking here for video 1 and here for video 2. You can see in the second video, if you look closely, Cappy picks up her tennis ball and runs around the yard with it. She hasn't quite learned the idea of fetch yet, but she's still having a wonderful time.

It will still take Cappy a few more months to regain her full strength and she would benefit greatly from swim therapy. Her recovery time could be cut in half if she was able to swim regularly. Pet Rescue of MD does not have funding for swim therapy and we still need money to pay for her surgery. Would you please consider making a donation?