God is so good- Pica's surgery is TUESDAY!

Well I went to Gainesville today for the evaluation and they graded her left knee as a 3 ( 1 is the least and 4 is the worst) and her right leg as a 2 headed rapidly towards 3. So I spoke with the doctor who is doing the surgery- a very intelligent, warm, and caring German vet- Dr. Detlef Apelt. I really liked him alot- he's very experienced and very thorough in his explanation and showed great interest in Pharaoh's Haven. :) The intern, Eric was super friendly and helpful. ANYWAY- they said she needs surgery ASAP or the ACL will get involved and that would be MORE surgery. So I said, " When can you do surgery?" " Tomorrow if that's ok with you." I almost fainted- that's just unheard of- they usually have a wait. He explained the surgery in great detail (it's actually three proceedures- one to deepen the knee socket, one to straighten the ligaments and one to insert pins to keep everything straight- her knees pop out to the sides instead of in, and that is unusual- it's called lateral luxating patellas and it's not as common as medial luxating patellas and I guess the surgery is a bit more involved.) I pick her up Thursday. She will be wrapped up and in a crate or walked on a leash for SIX WEEKS. So, everyone keep your fingers crossed and pray for a great outcome. Thank you again to all who donated. I'll update tomorrow after surgery and again after we get her home. Email this update to anyone who you forwarded the letter to- so they know to keep checking the blog for her progress. We may get a price break on the surgery which would be great, especially since I got the very unexpected news that the other leg will need surgery at some later point as well. :( I thought it looked bad, but I was NOT thinking we would do two knees. I am thinking that will be in, but I won't know until I talk to Dr. Apelt on Thursday. So your donations are even more appreciated. Love, Anne

Pica's Plea-please consider helping her!

I cannot believe how generous everyone has been- I have tried to email everyone IMMEDIATELY with a thank you if you sent your payment through Paypal- if you sent your donation in the mail and I don't have an email address for you, you will be getting a card as soon as I can get them made with her little picture on it. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Keep passing the blog and the letter on to ANYONE ANYWHERE that might want to donate and THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS. Today, she stood on her two front legs to pee and held her back legs in the air- it was so sad. :( SO the surgery will not come too fast for us or her. A special thanks to my dear soul sister Christa, of Rocket Angel Italian Greyhound Rescue- many of her adopters and friends have been our donators. Let's keep up the good work so this little tiny one can run without pain! Love, Anne and Jon

Our youngest rescue, Pica, is two years old and has laterally rotating patellas- basically that means that her knee "groove" is not deep enough and her knee cap keeps popping out of place. She can't stretch her legs out straight because of this and cannot jump down or up on things and in the winter has alot of pain. This surgery is well over $1000. We are a small private rescue. We do alot of volunteer work in the schools to educate children about the plight of homeless pets and how to care for their own pets properly. This is the first time we have ever asked for financial help. We cannot bear to put her to sleep at her age for something that could be corrected with surgery. So we are asking God to help give us wisdom about what to do. I am posting this to say that if any of you would like to donate even $5 or $10 or $1,(seriously) we would so welcome it. We are selling things in our home that we don't need to help raise the money. To see this sweet girl- look on the left side of my blog for the picture of Jon with his secret favorite Pica. She'll have the surgery at the University of Florida at Shands.She was referred there by a vet here because her knees are laterally rotating, which is unusual. Her consultation for the surgery is June 30th. You can contact me at JonAnne@aol.com or donate directly to our PayPal account with the donate button on the left. Or you can send a check - just email me and I will give you our address. We have already received $200 from a very wonderful businessman in South Florida whose IG had to have the same surgery. We are so grateful for that. Could you also send my blog to ANY OF YOUR FRIENDS THAT LOVE DOGS THAT MIGHT BE WILLING TO DONATE??? THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep coming to the blog- I will update everyone here- and thank you to all of you that have already given so generously. We are so appreciative.