This is Bruno (and Susan). Bruno is a very special dog and, frankly, he needs your help. Here’s why…
Bruno is a sweetheart of a two- year-old neutered Pit Mix (yes – let’s just face it he is a Pittie) and it’s shocking what a sweetheart he is given how his life started. For a long time Bruno belonged to a homeless person in San Francisco. While many of the homeless in San Francisco shower their dogs with love and affection; this person was abusive. We don’t know all the details but. Bruno has also been hit by a car – not just once, but twice. The first time Bruno was hit by a car he was not severely injured; but the second time his hip was dislocated. For the last two months Bruno has been taken care of by the skilled professionals at San Francisco Animal Care & Control. So, if you thought things were looking up for Bruno once he got to Animal Care & Control – you’d only be partially correct. It turns out that Bruno needed surgery to repair his disjointed hip and not just any surgery, he needed to have a Femoral Head and Neck Ostectomy or FHO. FHO surgery is the surgical removal of the head and neck of the femur. So for those of you who, like me, didn’t go to veterinary school (though I still very much want to) this is the removal of the “ball” part of the ball-and-socket that makes up the hip joint.
After the surgery the bones of the joint are no longer in contact which eliminates the pain that is caused by the abnormal contact of the bones. Once the bones are removed the surrounding muscles and developing scar tissue work to support the area and act as a false joint. This means that while Bruno’s walk may never be perfect – he is not in pain any more. Bruno had this surgery on Friday, May 29, 2015 at ACC. The surgery was performed at a greatly reduced cost by Dr. Sean Wells of Nor Cal Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Clinic and on Saturday (that’s right the very next day) we transported Bruno to Pet Camp for 8 weeks of rehabilitation work. We’ll be keeping you up to date on Bruno’s progress and what we are doing for his rehab. This week, we are doing three 5-minute on-leash walks; 2 warm compresses; 2 ice packs; and 2 range of motion exercises every day plus lots and lots of TLC (who wouldn’t want to snuggle with this guy?).
Great you say, nice job ACC, Dr. Wells & Pet Camp – so why do you need my help? Well, while we have Bruno covered for the next eight weeks, we need your help in getting Bruno a new forever home. As much as we respect the folks at Animal Care and Control, we don’t want Bruno to go back there and no rescue group has been able to find a foster home for Bruno (and foster homes aren’t forever homes) – we need you to help us find a forever home for Bruno.
Do you have room in your life and heart for Bruno? If not, do you know someone who does? Let us know and we’ll take it from there.
So until the next update on the Bruno Blog. Thanks for reading.