Services | Outreach > Jake
 |
 |
Laura rehabbing
Jake
Photo credit: José Pico
|
 |
|
Jake shaking off
Photo credit: José Pico
|
 |
|
Helen, Ally & Jake playing
Photo credit: José Pico
|
Jake: Dr. Jake, I presume
Jake is the one year old Border Collie of a neighbor of HHS. Jake’s
left front foot was run over by a truck. We call him Dr. Jake because
he seems to know just what he needs to do to heal.
First, after he’s injured he escapes his yard and comes
limping over to Healing HEART Sanctuary; smart move! When he
arrived, Executive
Director Laura Bradshaw was
wondering how an injured stray would find his way to our door,
as she did not personally know Jake at the time. But soon the
neighbor came looking for him. X-rays showed Jake’s foot
had not been broken but 3 months after the accident he still
would not put any weight on it. His front leg had atrophied all
the way up through the shoulder, with no remaining muscle mass.
The vet had said it seemed like it was only a dislocated toe
but a dislocated toe would not wreak this much havoc. Something
else had to be going on.
We immediately started the Infratonic
sound wave machine to break up any scar tissue and water
therapy to try and build some muscle back in
the shoulder.
Here again Dr. Jake made our life easy by loving the water;
he would swim around for however long he was asked to, Somehow
Jake seemed to just know it was important. As his shoulder started
to come back, he would put weight on his foot now and then, which
was encouraging.
He also knew he needed more exercise and using his leg and shoulder
while not in the water so he wrote himself a prescription for
play with the other dogs at HHS. He will bark from across the
street to let us know when he should come over for his play treatment.
Another trip to the vet finally told us that while Jake has
been making progress something else was going on with the tendons
or ligaments in his wrist. Water
therapy was great for his shoulder but out of the water Jake
could not sustain the weight of his body on his wrist. An orthopedic
brace is his next step to rebuilding the strength and stability
in his leg back.
Like many other animals, Jake’s treatment will progress
over time. But what is indisputable is that without the treatment
at Healing HEART Sanctuary, Jake would be a 3 legged dog and
not be on the path to recovery.
If you’d like to support work such as this being done
as part of our outreach program, donate
NOW.
|
