Sally's fall from grace

Hello my friends

Here’s a cautionary tale if ever there was one!

It's not just stray and wild animals that come to Animal Tracks, we also have a busy outpatients department where the public can bring their pets and domestic animals for the full spectrum of treatments, vaccinations and of course sterilisation.

Sally a beloved pet came in to the centre after sustaining an injury to a front leg in mystery freak accident. Renowned as an adventurer, Sally has even been known to climb trees and scale high walls so her owners are quite used to her getting into trouble. But this time she'd hurt herself badly.

After examination and X ray it was found that Sally had a really severe fracture to her leg and there would be no option but for her to undergo major reconstructive surgery.

Led by IAR's expert orthopaedic surgeon Nikhil, the operation took more than three hours as he painstakingly repositioned the broken bones using external pinning. Sally and numerous other animals are really fortunate to be treated at Animal Tracks as this advanced and complex surgery is not widely available.

Then came the long recovery process whereby Sally had to be contained despite her natural desire and instinct to be out and about exploring. Not an easy task for her owners knowing she would still try to get into mischief despite her leg being shrouded in metal pins!

But Sally seemed to understand that custody was necessary in order for her to heal and she got used to sitting around  in the safety of the house and not going on her daily walks and joining in the fun with the other household dogs.

After a few weeks she returned to the centre and further X rays showed that the bone was mending well and a couple of the six pins were able to be removed in a second slow and intricate operation. Then more weeks of rest and healing before the final surgery to remove the remaining steel frame and pins.

Many weeks later and still under special care and observation Sally continues to recover but is probably already planning her next adventure. Let's hope she's learnt from this experience that, although she's agile, unlike cats, dogs do tend to come down to earth with a bit of a bump!

Love Olive x