OUR 'RESCUES' FROM LAMENESS

Translation by Anna Holloway 

The use and abuse of greyhounds has no bounds. It is all very nice seeing them race and hunt, but if and when they are injured, they are very often abandoned by hunters. And, the worst thing is, by the time they reach the hands of the people who try their best to help them, they often have chronic fractures which may well be infected and can only be treated by top orthopaedic surgeons. Despite the fact many surgeons do help in these cases, the surgery is very expensive and the post-surgical rehabilitation requires experienced volunteers who are prepared to dedicate time and effort to help the galgo regain mobility.

We don’t often have time to explain all the details of each rescue we carry out, so here is a tribute to a few of the galgos we have rescued recently and to the members, donors, volunteers and vets whose help is essential in order for us to continue our work.  

Balú

Balú was injured in Valencia over a year ago as he was trotting behind a horse and its rider down a country path when a motorbike ran into him. Luz, his rescuer, was driving along in her car and was witness to the accident. She stopped to help the galgo and spoke to the rider who said that the galgo didn’t belong to him and promptly washed his hands of him. Luz loaded Balú into her car and tried find help for him as soon as possible, as she is from the Canary Islands and was only on holiday in Valencia for a few days. She got in touch with SOS Galgos and we organised for Balú to be transported to our clinic in Barcelona to check that he had not been seriously injured by the motorbike. On arrival we found that the toes on one of his hind legs had been crushed and were severely infected. Balú was lucky enough to be adopted by Joan Francesc and proved to be one of the most sociable and majestic galgos we have ever seen. The infection is his paw finally cleared up, but one of his toes had atrophied and had to be amputated in the hope that he would begin to put his full weight on his paw. The operation was performed by Dra. Anna Avellaneda from the Ars Veterinary Hospital. 

Mel

We’ve had Mel for nearly a month now and everything’s going well. She is a very timid and fearful galga but she is beginning to show signs of playfulness. For the first couple of days, she didn’t leave one of the small rooms we have at home but now she boldly climbs onto the sofa!

She was found in Seville with an untreated elbow fracture. One of the orthopaedic surgeons at Ars Hospital did a wonderful job of operating on the fracture but, despite his efforts, the wound re-opened. In addition to antibiotics, we’ve been disinfecting and dressing the wound daily to avoid infection and to help the wound re-heal. We have also started rehabilitation on that leg so that she gets used to using it again. We have not seen any signs of improvement yet but we’re not giving up. We hope that the money invested in her surgery has been well-spent and that she can once again walk on four legs like a healthy galgo. On our behalf we intend to do everything we can to help her use the leg again. If anyone has any ideas for other rehab techniques from personal experience, we’d be grateful to hear from you. The only thing that we have been doing so far is making her touch the floor with her lame leg when she walks (but she gets tired or get frightened and she throws herself down on the floor), either that or doing passive bending and stretching exercises on her paw. We still haven’t taken her to the beach as her operation is still relatively recent and she is also very easily spooked (although she is slowly overcoming her fear) but they say the sand is good for chronic injuries. I have sent you some photos. With best regards.   

Emi 

Inca

Inca’s story is touching as it was not easy for Blanca to capture her in a rubbish tip where she had survived scavenging until one day she retuned home limping after having been run over. By the time Blanca finally won Inca’s trust and she managed to get her to us, the fracture in her femur had healed but the bone was very fragmented. Together with the surgeon, Xavier Totusaus, we decided it was best not to operate as Inca was putting sufficient weight on the paw when she walked and the surgery would seriously risk damaging the surrounding soft tissue. Laia and Sebastian have welcomed Inca into their lives and she couldn’t be happier.   

Nico

Antonia found Nico in Seville. She had a serious limp that was due to a chronic femur dislocation. She was operated in Seville by a surgeon called Juan José Minguez whilst in foster care with Montse. Unfortunately so much time had gone by that the top of the femur was not functional and Dr. Xavier Totusaus ended up removing the tip of the femur by performing an arthroplastia. Two months later Nico began putting weight on her leg and she now lives very happily with Beverly and Sidney in Pennsylvania. 

Esperanza 

Esperanza (which means Hope) is a 7 month old female who had the same injury as Nico, a dislocated femur. She was an abandoned galga who spent a month being fed in a gas station in Cadiz in the South of Spain until Almudena and Edu from the Kimba shelter, our collaborators in Cadiz, organised her rescue and surgery. She arrived in Barcelona a few days later to be adopted by a fabulous family. Gillian, who was adopted this month, also had to undergo arthroplastia as her limp was due to a chronic femur dislocation that her huntsman owner conveniently chose to ignore. 

Juanito 

This galgo was rescued in Toledo with a broken leg. With the help of a German animal protection group, a local rescue association organised surgery for him. The operation was quite complicated but proved to be a success. After his surgery there was no choice but to have Juanito stay in kennels as there were no foster carers available.  Just when the German rescue group got in touch with us, Juanito had fled from his cage in fear and undid all the surgical reconstruction work that had been done on his leg. It looked like it would have to be amputated. Our excellent volunteer, Margarita, kindly offered to foster Juanito whilst he recovered from surgery but in the end, it was not necessary as Gracia, a volunteer from Toledo, cancelled her holiday plans in order to look after Juanito after the second surgical intervention to save his paw. Thanks to the donations from Germany and people like Gracia, Juanito is a galgo that will now live a happy, comfortable life.