TRACE at 4 months

TRACE Now

TRACE NEEDS YOU NOW

The last time you saw Trace on this page, he was an adorable 4-month-old pup with some weakness in his right front leg (see photo, above left). Now, 7 months later, he desperately needs your help to be a normal collie, free from pain.

When we rescued Trace in El Paso along with seven other puppies, he was so sick that we were afraid he would not last the night.  He recovered, but something wasn't right about his leg. Then we learned that one of its major bones, the ulna, had fused to another bone, the radius—and since the radius was still growing, the leg was bowing out.

Trace had orthopedic surgery to allow his leg to grow straight. The operation fixed part of the problem, but as the leg grew, the growth plate closed on one side of his “wrist.” Now his lower leg bends severely outward (see photo, above right). And the problem is three-dimensional: The wrist turns out and rotates at the same time, so that he walks on its edge.

This is not simply a cosmetic issue. Each time Trace walks and runs he weakens the wrist, and over time he is likely to suffer increasingly severe pain.

The answer is another surgery, an osteotomy. Dr. Peter Schwarz, an Albuquerque veterinary orthopedic specialist, would cut out a piece from the arc of the bone and realign the leg—for good, since he's finished growing now.

The success rate of this surgery, we’re told, is 85 percent to 90 percent. So it’s definitely worth doing to give Trace a normal, happy life. But the cost is extremely high: between $2,500 and $2,800, more than we’ve ever needed to spend on a single operation.

Most of you know that we at SWCR have pledged to do everything we can for our collies. We rescue all of them, no matter how old or how sick, and give them the help they need, whether that means surgery or a special foster home for end-of-life care. All of us are volunteers.

But we don’t have enough money to pay for Trace’s surgery. We can pay for some of it. So can Trace’s foster parents, who plan to adopt him very soon, after he’s neutered. They also paid for his first surgery.So many of you have been so generous to SWCR over the years. You've helped hundreds of collies. Can you help Trace now? He’s such a wonderful boy and he’s been through so much. This is his only chance.

We deeply appreciate whatever you can do for Trace. Please send your donations to:

Lee More, VP and Treasure, 

Southwest Collie Rescue 

52 Estrada Calabasa 

Santa Fe, New Mexico  87506

COLLIE HEALTH WARNINGS: Please go to our Collie Health page for critical veterinary information about Heartworm Preventatives, artificial sweetened human products that could kill your collie, and other possible health issues.