Serena has been adopted! 06-26-2005

Serena, a gorgeous 10 month old, was diagnosed by her owner's vet with severe dysplasia, which would have required surgery on both hips. Understandably, this is an expensive surgery. Hard to understand, however, is how this beautiful, sweet and loving girl, once her diagnosis was known, could be dumped by her family at the North San Diego shelter. They certainly understood as they walked away that they were sentencing Serena to certain death. The shelter gave us less than 24 hours to come up with as much funding as possible so we could save Serena, but we had to make the decision to save her without knowing where the money will come from for her surgery.

Serena loves to play and wiggle around despite her obvious pain. Watching her is heartwrenching, but imaginging her joy when she is pain free is what drives us, our volunteers and you, our supporters, to help her.

We are desperately searching for a foster home for Serena while she recuperates this summer, and if you have the time to spend fostering her through to good health, please contact us as soon as possible!

Update 5/14/05:


Today we received good news about our little Serena! She was represented to
us as needing double hip replacement surgery, and we were prepared to
provide it. We've had her evaluated by a qualified vet, who found her hips
are in great shape! It seems that unfortunately, some time early in life,
Serena suffered a fracture to her hind leg. The fracture was never treated
and occurred across her growth plate before she was fully grown. The result
is that one leg will always be slightly shorter than the other, and she'll
have a shortenend range in the movement of her knee. This is inoperable but
Serena can still enjoy a very good life! Serena's left leg is "acting" up the same as the right, and there is a possibility that she might have some neurological issues wherein the brain is not
talking directly to the leg. There is no way to test this but its something that will need to be
observed over time. With supplementation and perhaps NSAID's, we believe Serena will be able to have some fun in life.

Now all Serena needs is an understanding, permanent and loving home!

The minimum adoption donation for adults is $375 and the adoption donation for puppies is $500. This amount only partially covers the cost of veterinary care, boarding fees, and other miscellaneous expenses involved in the temporary care and adoption of our dogs and is tax deductible when permitted by law. The adoption donation provides that all dogs will be spayed or neutered, receive current vaccinations, and are microchipped. If not, arrangements will be made on an individual basis ( i.e., puppies who will need to be altered by 6 mos old). Special consideration may be given to those willing to adopt older dogs or dogs with physical problems.