23/12/2025
ππππ MERRY CHRISTMAS MUNCHKIN ππππ
π As you know Miss Munchkin came into care heavily pregnant, birthed 3 healthy pups and raised them into lovely healthy youngsters.
πThen Munchkin's legs became our next mission.
To give her the vet care she needed in order to be ready for her new life.
π Patella surgery is something we cannot always offer the very senior dogs that come into care with a full set of old age health problems.π
π Little Forever Care Bob is a prime example, had he been younger and healthier, he would have been a prime candidate for the surgery on his own shoddy patellas.
But by the time he came to us, so close to death on arrival. He was lucky to survive at all.
It was thanks to our Vets and his 'palliative' carer (yes, it was fully expected that she'd have to say goodbye at any moment), he grew healthy enough to be safe under a general anaesthetic for a dental and desex. Not a major surgery, just enough to improve his quality of life.
π But this time we had a young healthy dog, ready and able to undergo surgery.
π Munchkin's zest for life is second to none. Even playing with her pups, you would have gotten her confused as one of the babies. Zoomies and rumbles aplenty.
But the knee caps, they made us grimace, you could see it the whole structure was wonky.
π After x-rays our first vets deemed her patellas to be specialist worthy.
They were B.A.D. so Munchkin moved back to the big smoke for surgery and recovery.
π We knew it was huge financial investment, we knew there were risks, recovery would be long and Munchkin would spend even longer in care.
π But she is worth every every penny.
π Living on the streets, heavily pregnant. She was known to the area she was found in as a roaming dog seen often, and witnessed to have almost been run over numerous times. All by the age of approx 3yrs (a guess as she was not microchipped). Thankfully the rangers were able to catch her before it was too late.
π For us as a rescue, she's one of the few that find their way to us young enough for this particular procedure.
So it was decided, this needed to be done so Munchkin didn't rock around on wobbly knee caps in old age.
π Munchkin had her bilateral surgery.
Her Orthopaedic Specialist noted her bones barely had a groove where the patella should sit, they didn't just pop out, they couldn't even 'pop into place'.
Munchkin is now a bit bionic, wire, screws and a pin were inserted as the bone was grooved out so the patella could sit in place.
π Munchkin had the surgery a few weeks ago, strict crate rest and following every instruction handed to her carer has been followed to the letter. We want to do our bit to make sure the surgery results are the best by giving her the proper care.
π Munchkin saw her surgeon who performed her repairs last week for a follow-up. He is very happy with how her legs are healing. Still more crate rest as everything sets and heals from a major orthopaedic procedure. Crate time will gradually decrease until she's safe to get back to her normal life.
π We can see the difference in the way she holds her nice straight legs on short toilet breaks. No bandy legged cowgirl legs any more!
π While Munchkin has a couple more months of recovery and rehab, to give a young dog the gift of repairing her legs is something we feel honours her youth, and need for fun & activity. so many dogs their age prevents us giving them that chance.
πFor one little roaming street girl we could make sure her future is so bright, she had better wear shades π
πFor everyone who supports our rescue efforts, Munchkin is part of who you support, together Munchkin was able to have surgery, and your donations make it possible.
π For everyone who has emailed, called and messaged. Or just fallen in love. π₯°
Yes, Munchkin will be available for adoption but not just yet. :)
We need her surgeon to sign off on fully healed, stable legs at the end of rehab.
π So this is the biggest thank you from the SSR Team.
And from Munchkin, thank you and Merry Christmas.
π Your support changes the world, one dog at a time.
π Thanks for reading such a loooong, overdue story.
As you probably know, due to serious family illness, I've been fairly inactive on the socials etc.
π₯°π₯°π₯° Sending love. π₯°π₯°π₯°
###x Anna
π p.s. If you can help us reach our fundraiser goal by New Year please click here https://www.seniorsandsilkies.org.au/donate.html
