Posted by BarbaraB on 5/9/2008, 9:26 am
Link: Rest of story and pics
January 2006
Molly is a survivor. This little pony is a Katrina survivor who was rescued from the floods by a kind caring pony lover in New Orleans. Kaye Harris runs a pony rescue in New Orleans and when Katrina hit, she took in as many refugees as she could including some dogs. As her rescued animals were trying to adjust to their new and confusing surroundings the stress was too much for at least one and the result was horrifying. An abandoned pit bull took it's rage out on poor little Molly, barely any bigger than the dog herself.
The dog destroyed Molly's right front leg so bad that all the tendons and arteries to the hoof were severed. The rest of her lower leg, the canon bone, was also destroyed. Molly did her best to heal. She never even got infected, but the injuries were too extensive to heal completely. A few weeks after the attack, Molly's hoof died and fell off of her leg. By this time, there were already plans to have it amputated anyway.
Molly was under the watchful care of Dr. Barco in New Orleans, and her suggestion was to take her to the University of Louisiana in Baton Rouge for examination and consultation. Dr. Barco's hope along with Kaye Harris, was that the remaining leg could be amputated above the "too far gone to save" line and a prosthesis could be designed for Molly.
The University's Vet School were up for the challenge of trying to save Molly's leg, but uncertain of the prognosis as they have never tried to save a horse's leg by amputation before. Molly, however, was thought to be the best candidate for this amputation/prosthesis case as she light weight, and calm by nature. One strike against her is her mature age. Still the surgery was scheduled and Molly came through it with flying colors.
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