Limited edition prints can be purchased by clicking on Toby's face

 

 

 

I don't know if you can help me or not but I don't know where else to turn.
 I write you today because I am desperate. I am trying to save my Toby! He is
a beautiful Bernese Mountain dog. Here is my story.
About a year ago my partner and I adopted a Bernese mountain dog. We have
loved her very much but she seemed lonely for someone to play with so we
decided to get a second one. I called the same breeder and she said she didn't
have any puppies at the time However she did have a 7 month old puppy I could
buy. She said, she sold him and the girl kept him locked up and was never
home and he had developed a "needy personality" , we love dogs so much and so
we said we felt we could help him over it and he would be fine,so we told her
we would take the puppy. I live in Cleveland Georgia and she was in Akin S.
C., so it was a long drive for us, for me since I am not well.

The day after Thanksgiving I called to see when we could go and she said,
well he seems to have a burr in his foot or something so maybe you should
wait. I ask a lot of questions and she assured me he was not limping before
that day. So we decided to go after him and take him to our vet here. We
drove down and picked him up. He was limping pretty bad and we couldn't find
anything in his foot so we took him to the Vet. right away. (since she seem
to be unable to locate his papers we had to have all his shots repeated. By
the way when we got there she said, Oh I made a mistake he is 11 months old.

I want to keep this short as I can. Since getting him he has to continued to
get worse. We have had 3 Vets check him out and he has had lots of test and
X-rays and he needs joint surgery so he can walk with out pain again. he is in
a lot of pain. He is the gentlest sweetest dog in the whole world. We have
spent thousands on him now and yesterday the Vet said the surgery he needs is
going to be very expensive and he will still need to be on pain medication the
rest of his life. He is healthy now and it is only his elbow he has trouble
with. The medication he is on cost us $50 a week,. We do not have the money
to have this surgery done. The Vet says that even after the surgery he will
not walk normal but will have less pain.

We love him so much and we don't know what to do! If we gave him back to the
breeder she would put him down. Also since we got him she has discovered she
is dying with cancer and now doesn't even respond to our letters.

My question to you is , do you know of any foundations that would help with
the expense of his surgery and medication if we could keep him and get it
done. I cannot watch him suffer. To make matters worse non of the Vets that
have seen him know how to do the surgery and don't know anyone that does. I
have only had him since Thanksgiving , but he is not allowed to go out and
play and he lays at my feet all day since I work from home. I am so very
attached to him! If I could find a program that would assist in his help
maybe I could afford part of it.

Maybe God feels this is my lot in life but every pet I have had ends up with
lots of problems and I have had to nurse and care for them . I love animals
and I do not mid all the care giving at all but the expense is too much for me
now. There should be stricter laws against bad breeders.

 

 

 

Toby's surgery has now been done and here's a recent report from Brenda

"This morning Jaclyn called and said it would be good if I came down that Dr. Chambers wanted to talk to me. I had to be at the doctor myself in Gainesville and then to the hospital for lab work so it was really a run to make it. I got there at 4:30 and she said Toby was really tired from his walk and visit but brought him out. I had the camera ready to get his picture as he came through the door. All I got a picture of was the ceiling. he broke loose and ran to me. She said, Not once since he came here has he moved that fast!

I have been so impressed with the UGA staff. Dr. Chamber's came in and showed me the x-rays and he was so excited. He said that Toby's progress is far greater than they had even hoped for. As soon as the section was removed and the pins put in place the joint went back together. They will tighten them and re-xray everyday until Thursday. He said, Toby can come home on Thursday. He is to be on his feet only when I am by his side. He is allowed to put weight on it but very restricted activity.

Thank you all, for your comfort and support through this, I have been a basket case.



Toby's official diagnosis is;
Abnormal growth of his ulna and fragmented coronoid process
The ulna grew beyond the radius and in trying to walk he had fractured the coronoid process.

Surgery: On March 17th Toby was placed under general anesthesia for elbow arthroscopy and an ulnar ostectomy. Upon entering the elbow joint, Toby was found to have a fragmented coronoid process. No other abnormalities we found in the elbow. Afterwards an incision was made along the ulna and a section of the ulna was removed. A motorized external fixator was applied to the ulna using two pins. Toby under went numerous procedures where the external fixator was tightened to bring the bone down to joint the other section. This has enabled his joint to fall back in place. Dr. Chambers said that this abnormal growth in Toby was exactly the opposite of what usually happens in these cases and so they used his case to teach the procedure. He said, that most of them might never in their lifetime see this type problem again. He had the surgeon that invented the external device come in and apply it after they prepared the bone for it. Toby will wear this 4 weeks and then be put back to sleep to remove it. Dr. Chambers said, he could not say for sure if his problem was genetic or from an injury.

While there, they were able to determine that his vocal cords had be removed. They said that rather than someone clipping them they apparently complete removed them. They also learned that he was terribly afraid of men. Jaclyn said that every time a man came into his kennel he was so scared that he would wet all over himself. We knew he had that problem but had not related it just to men. The original owner was a young woman but we do know the breeders son was living there as he was her boy friend.

This is pretty much all I know. Toby is a very nervous little boy and now he has lost a lot of weight. We look forward to seeing him get well and hope that some day he will run and play with Zoie.



Toby at the hospital, March 18th

 

      

 

    

 

  

 

 

         

 

The next pictures are of one week home!