Three Legged Dog Club
Cassie's Club Members
 
Charlie O'Donnell

Dear Cassie,

My husband and I adopted Charlie, our yellow lab mix who had to have his right front leg amputated. Charlie was found as a stray in Ewing, NJ and when the good Samaritan that found him was waiting for animal control, Charlie darted out into the street and was hit by a car. He went to the shelter where they found that he had nerve damage to his leg and waited for someone to claim him.

After they waited the normal amount of time for a dog to be claimed, they decided it was in Charlie's best interest to amputate the leg. A family member who volunteers at the rescue knew my husband and I had recently bought a new home and were hoping to add onto our family asked if we would foster him for about 2 weeks until he recuperated.

The moment we saw Charlie, two days after surgery we knew he had found his forever home. We have had Charlie for 4 months now and he has no idea he has three legs and is more lively than any other dog I have met.

Though we were not the ones to make the decision to amputate Charlie's leg, we know that it was the right thing to do,

being that his owners called and heard he had a leg amputated and decided not to come and claim him.

We are proud to be the newest members of Cassie's Three Legged Dog Club!

The O'Donnell's
Jeff, Haley and Charlie
Thursday March 2, 2006

 
Benjimen

Hello, My name is Corinne and my dog's name is Benjimen. Benjimen is a Peekapoo and my baby. I inherited Benjimen from my husband's ex-wife. She saw him as nothing but trouble and she insisted my husband take him, as a joke to me. My husband said he would find a home for him if I wanted, but I would not have it.

I can't imagine how anyone could have ever seen him as anything but pure pleasure. He is sweetest and most loving dog I have ever had. A little over a month ago, he got out after I had gone to work, ran in front of a car and got hit.

Chasing after cars was one of his biggest and worst habits, as I'm sure with a lot of dogs, but him being so small you could not see him and he got hit.

Luckily, a wonderful neighbor has a daughter-in-law who works with me and called her to let me know that he'd been hit. I had just gotten to work when she came and told me about the call, so I turned right around and rushed back home.

Benjimen seemed unscathed except he was dragging his right front leg. I found him hobbling around the front yard. I figured he had just broken it and I rushed him to the vet. Much to my surprise, I later received a call from the vet telling me that he had no broken bones, but he had completely detached his leg, on the inside.

He said he could wrap his leg in a very tight sling for a week with very little chance of it healing, but it was a chance. If within a week it did not work then he felt our best option was to put him down. He said that most vets would not recommend amputation, especially for the front leg. I was devastated.

The first day in the sling was pretty rough for Benjimen, but slowly he got used to it and by the end of the week he was running with the other dogs and getting around like nothing was any different. We knew his chances of his leg healing were way too slim but by the end of the week we had decided that there was no way we wanted to put him down. The problem was we really didn't have the money for the surgery to have his leg amputated either. After a week we took the wrap off and sure enough his leg just went limp. I cried and cried. I figured we had no choice but to put him down.

Then my husband came up with an idea that he presented to Benjimen's vet the next day when he took him back. My husband asked the vet what the risks were if we did not amputate the leg. The vet said that him dragging it around caused too much of a danger to him getting it caught on something or cutting it and getting it infected. He said that being dead, it would get infected much easier than normal, if allowed to drag it around. So my husband asked what the vet thought about us getting him a doggy shirt and sewing up the hole on one side, making like a sling. The doctor thought it was a good idea, as long as we kept his leg pinned-up and did not let it drag. So that is what we have done for now, and he is so happy. Wearing the shirt does not even bother him and mommy got to go out and buy a bunch of cute shirts for him to wear. We hope to save the money to have his leg removed, but for now he seems very happy. He astounds us how he is still able to run with the big dogs and jump up on his favorite chair. He is pampered to say the least, and I can't even imagine life without him. He loves to ride in the car, so as often as we can, we take him for a ride. I thank you for a chance to tell our story. I was so excited to find your website.

Thank you
Corinne Watts and Benjimen
Tuesday March 7, 2006

 
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