Support Monroe's Left Knee Surgery
Donation protected
Please help Monroe have knee surgery so he can live an active, healthy life.
I first met Monroe in Taos, NM via an adoption flyer posted by the Stray Hearts Animal Shelter (please read the flyer shown in the image montage provided along with this posting). While I found myself attracted to this mutt I made it a point to ignore such for several weeks. My logic was that such a good and intelligent looking dog wouldn't last long and would find a home soon. Having sworn off any new pets after losing my last dog (Babushka) to cancer a couple years before, I just didn't want any more heartbreak such as I had experienced with her illness. However, everywhere I went for the next four weeks Monroe's flyers kept showing up and beckoning, so finally I took one home and set it on my nightstand. After a couple more weeks I felt pretty safe in calling the shelter. I just knew there was no way after at least 6 weeks of exposure this dog hadn't been adopted. Wrong !!! A very pleasant voice on the phone informed me that having been in the shelter for nine months Monroe was really looking forward to getting a new start elsewhere. She invited me to come and meet him, which I did, and very quickly found myself wanting to take him for a test drive. Well, that lasted about 24 hours before I came to realize this guy was as special as the flyer had stated, not to mention an ideal social role model for a curmudgeon such as myself. Did I mention friendly? I read one time that Will Rogers stated “I have never met a man I didn't like”. Well, I don't believe Monroe has ever met ANY living thing that he didn't like and want to play with, which brings me to the point of this posting.
Monroe, being as large and as muscular as he is (after four years on a Raw Food diet Monroe now weighs in at 85 lbs. of solid muscle) has developed a left knee injury (a.k.a. Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rupture). Certain breeds such as his are predisposed to develop this type of injury (Monroe is a Rhodesian Ridgeback/ something mix). Over the last year I have watched this problem grow worse with him exercising his unrelenting joy of life through his unending and rampant activity. With an 80 acre field adjacent to where we live he just can't help himself and is constantly just going for it, running, jumping, twisting, chasing magpies, ravens, flies or most anything that will run from him, with him or chase after him (I once caught HIM BEING CHASED across the property by a chihuahua). Over this time I have watched his knee grow more painful to where he is now close to becoming a tripod. I have since fenced him in to limit his activity while he awaits further help. After visits to the vet and a second opinion it would appear the only resolution to this issue is a surgery (a.k.a TPLO/TTA) that would bring the joint table of this knee from a 30 degree reverse angle to 10 degrees which is closer to the common tilt of this surface in most breeds. I have been assured by Robert Gruda, DVM at the Gruda Veterinary Hospital in Santa Fe, NM, that the surgery will restore Monroe's knee to the degree that he will regain normal use and activity of this joint. Not getting this surgery will have the knee continue to deteriorate to a point of constant extreme pain and loss of use of this limb. Scar tissue would form across the left knee, hip and back, stiffening his movement, putting additional strain on his right leg and ultimately most likely losing the use of that limb as well.
I am reaching out to the community for donations in an attempt to raise $4,500.00 for the surgery and post-op needs that this procedure is going to cost, to get this pup back to a normal, active and healthy state. After all the challenges Monroe has overcome in his life, to watch a repairable disorder such as this take down an indomitable spirit such as Monroe possesses is heart rending. Even now he refuses to submit to the issues and pain he is enduring. Please help if you can. We will attempt to provide donors to this cause with periodical updates (possibly video clips) of Monroe's recovery after the surgeries are completed. Thank you.
I first met Monroe in Taos, NM via an adoption flyer posted by the Stray Hearts Animal Shelter (please read the flyer shown in the image montage provided along with this posting). While I found myself attracted to this mutt I made it a point to ignore such for several weeks. My logic was that such a good and intelligent looking dog wouldn't last long and would find a home soon. Having sworn off any new pets after losing my last dog (Babushka) to cancer a couple years before, I just didn't want any more heartbreak such as I had experienced with her illness. However, everywhere I went for the next four weeks Monroe's flyers kept showing up and beckoning, so finally I took one home and set it on my nightstand. After a couple more weeks I felt pretty safe in calling the shelter. I just knew there was no way after at least 6 weeks of exposure this dog hadn't been adopted. Wrong !!! A very pleasant voice on the phone informed me that having been in the shelter for nine months Monroe was really looking forward to getting a new start elsewhere. She invited me to come and meet him, which I did, and very quickly found myself wanting to take him for a test drive. Well, that lasted about 24 hours before I came to realize this guy was as special as the flyer had stated, not to mention an ideal social role model for a curmudgeon such as myself. Did I mention friendly? I read one time that Will Rogers stated “I have never met a man I didn't like”. Well, I don't believe Monroe has ever met ANY living thing that he didn't like and want to play with, which brings me to the point of this posting.
Monroe, being as large and as muscular as he is (after four years on a Raw Food diet Monroe now weighs in at 85 lbs. of solid muscle) has developed a left knee injury (a.k.a. Cranial Cruciate Ligament Rupture). Certain breeds such as his are predisposed to develop this type of injury (Monroe is a Rhodesian Ridgeback/ something mix). Over the last year I have watched this problem grow worse with him exercising his unrelenting joy of life through his unending and rampant activity. With an 80 acre field adjacent to where we live he just can't help himself and is constantly just going for it, running, jumping, twisting, chasing magpies, ravens, flies or most anything that will run from him, with him or chase after him (I once caught HIM BEING CHASED across the property by a chihuahua). Over this time I have watched his knee grow more painful to where he is now close to becoming a tripod. I have since fenced him in to limit his activity while he awaits further help. After visits to the vet and a second opinion it would appear the only resolution to this issue is a surgery (a.k.a TPLO/TTA) that would bring the joint table of this knee from a 30 degree reverse angle to 10 degrees which is closer to the common tilt of this surface in most breeds. I have been assured by Robert Gruda, DVM at the Gruda Veterinary Hospital in Santa Fe, NM, that the surgery will restore Monroe's knee to the degree that he will regain normal use and activity of this joint. Not getting this surgery will have the knee continue to deteriorate to a point of constant extreme pain and loss of use of this limb. Scar tissue would form across the left knee, hip and back, stiffening his movement, putting additional strain on his right leg and ultimately most likely losing the use of that limb as well.
I am reaching out to the community for donations in an attempt to raise $4,500.00 for the surgery and post-op needs that this procedure is going to cost, to get this pup back to a normal, active and healthy state. After all the challenges Monroe has overcome in his life, to watch a repairable disorder such as this take down an indomitable spirit such as Monroe possesses is heart rending. Even now he refuses to submit to the issues and pain he is enduring. Please help if you can. We will attempt to provide donors to this cause with periodical updates (possibly video clips) of Monroe's recovery after the surgeries are completed. Thank you.
Organizer
Gerald Lamont
Organizer
Taos, NM