Lucas
Lucas,
a/k/a Lucky Luc, is a tale that started on shaky ground. There was a time
when we weren't sure we'd be able to provide Lucas with the quality of
life he deserved. As is often the case in life, things do seem to happen
for a reason. In April, 1999, two things happened about the same time.
We were contacted by a family in search of a dog that was trained, good
with kids, liked to be with the family, not too much work as it would be
their first dog. We were also contacted by a vet who had a client with
a yellow lab/labX in search of a new home. This dog was described as having
wonderful temperament, great with kids, friendly, a great dog. The reason
his owners couldn't keep him was because their 4-yr. old son had allergies.
They had only had him since December. We spoke with his current owners,
got his vet records...hmmm...might have mild HD on one side...but other
than that, everything looked very good. We made arrangements to meet Lucas.
He was indeed a wonderful dog.
Lucas was put into a foster home for about one week so that we could
further assess him before placing him in a longer-term foster home. The
foster home selected was the family who had contacted us looking for a
dog just like Lucas. It became apparent to us 
within
10 minutes of arriving at Lucas' longer-term foster home that his mild
HD on one side was definitely on both sides and not what we, as laypeople,
would call mild. Oh, no, this boy wasn't going to be an easy placement.
He was going to require long-term foster care and tough decisions.
Arrangements were made to have Lucas' hips x-rayed. The results came back TERRIBLE. He was grade 5 on one side, 4/5 on the other. The options were limited: try to regulate the pain through painkillers or have femoral head hip excisions done on both hips. Through Jude Fine of Senior Canine Rescue Society, we learned of a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Labs and LabXs, LabMed. We filled in an application for funding assistance for his surgery, and then we waited. On June 13th we learned that funding was approved. Lucas underwent his first surgery on June 17th. His recovery was a bit longer than we expected because the surgery was a lot harder to do than anticipated. Nonetheless, Lucas recovered throughout the summer (still with the family that wanted their first dog). On September 29th, Lucas underwent the 2nd surgery. Already, he is recovering faster than he did from the first one. He was demanding that the clinic staff take him out for a walk the day after the surgery, howling in his run!
Lucas is truly a lucky boy. He had many, many people who cared that he have the best quality of life that he could. The folks at LabMed, Joanne and David, Jan, Jude, Deb, Lorraine, Donna, Aggie and Eric, and Rob, the folks who helped make up the difference between what LabMed could fund and what remained. He also had the excellent care of Dr. Ian Welch and the staff at the Perth Veterinary Clinic and follow-up care provided by Dr. Richard Smith, Richmond Veterinary Clinic, and his loving foster family (soon to be his forever family), Diane, Stuart, Michael and Christopher. Yup, this tale does end with a very happy wag and we think every dog with Hip Dysplasia should have a chance to have surgery. It has made the world of difference to Lucas.
