Our Projects - ACE Charity

It is our mission statement at ACE that “You cannot save all the dogs in the world but you can save all the world for one dog” and what is more rewarding to be able to make a difference, in certain cases we can make the lame dogs walk again and blind dogs see. All this is possible because we have a team of Vets who, in the words of Dr Etinger, are kind enough to care and who strive not to equal but to excel.

At the Refugio we are fortunate to have an excellent team of veterinary specialists to help in the most difficult of cases. I believe most strongly that the rescue dogs deserve the best veterinary care possible; the idea that just because they are rescue dogs then anything goes in my mind is unacceptable. If anything, the rescue dogs deserve better than average care. These animals have been let down previously, someone has failed these dogs and it is up to us to assure that this dose not happen again. Also, these animals do not have the advantage of returning to a loving home after surgery, they live in the shelter environment and so once we are finished they must go back to the Refugio, this means that we must be sure that we get things right first time. So, only the best is good enough for our rescue dogs.

To make the lame dogs walk

Unfortunately we see many lame dogs at the Refugio. These dogs come to us from different backgrounds, some of them have been taken to the killing stations because they have sustained fractures and the owner is un willing to treat the fracture, others are dogs that have been abandoned and then sustained injuries, quite probably they get hit by a car trying to find their way home. Some of these dogs have had to live for months with the agony of a broken leg before they get picked up. Occasionally we get dogs that have been mistreated deliberately, thrown out of cars or even been beaten, victims of human cruelty. Many of these cases are exceedingly difficult to treat and we have had cases where the fracture was complicated by incorrect treatment, see the story of Victorio on our web site.

Let me first introduce Dr Carlos Macias, our “Bone Wizard.” Dr. Macias was one of the principle Orthopaedic Surgeons at one of the most important referral veterinary hospitals in England for 12 years. He obtained his Diploma in Small Animal Orthopaedics and is one of the few Orthopaedic Surgeons who are recognised specialists by the Royal Collage Of Veterinary Surgeons. He has published many papers and has written chapters in important textbooks of veterinary orthopaedics. Without a doubt he is one of the top orthopaedic surgeons, just Google his name and see what comes up. He returned to Spain two years ago to set up his own referral practice here in Malaga and since he opened he has always been kind enough to help us at ACE with our lame dogs.

Carlos has done some wonderful work for ACE. Some of the cases he has treated for us have been extreme orthopaedic challenges. When we receive a dog with a broken leg we have no idea what has happened, we do not know how long the leg has been broken and although we get some idea from the radiographs at best we can only assume that the accident has occurred recently or not. Perhaps one of the most difficult cases that we did was poor “Sustito”. His leg was broken in two places, one was healing but one was not. Perhaps the accident had taken place 4 or maybe 5 month previously. Carlos was able to repair the leg and we hospitalised him for 8 weeks in the clinic under strict rest. He was only allowed out to walk for 10 minutes twice a day while the leg was healing and undergoing rehabilitation. Another splendid case was little Virgin, she was born with a congenital defect in both knees, she was unable to straighten her legs and so when she walked she looked most strange, almost like a frog. Carlos operated first one leg and then the other and finally she was able to extend her knee and walk normally. During the rehabilitation she spent around six months with Fabienne and Derik living in their house until the rehabilitation was completed and she could go on to her new home.

PATA

Pata was another interesting case. A growth plate abnormality left poor Pata with a twisted leg. In cases like this, often the most important part is the aftercare so we have to delay surgery until we can find someone to look after the dog during rehab. Pata is no exception. In her case Carlos had to cut the bones of Patas foreleg, remove a piece of bone and then re-align them and fix the bones in a stable situation so that the can heal properly. To me this seems amazingly complicated but for Carlos, he told me that because it is a relatively common occurrence he has done many cases like this before so it was not too complicated for him to fix.

On the other hand some of the fractures that he has done for us when the bone was broken several months ago have been challenging. Under normal circumstances if a dog breaks his leg the owner takes him in to have it fixed as soon as possible. These dogs have been left to their own devices for several months without any treatment. Most centres do not bother to try and fix these fractures so if the dog gets picked up then in most cases the dog will be put to sleep, although sometimes some kind people will take the dog as it is. These dogs will invariably be lame for the rest of their lives and fortunately the will be pain free.

When I first approached Carlos to look at one of these cases he told me that in all his years in England he never saw this type of case, if the dog had a broken leg then either it was fixed as soon as possible, or if the owner was unwilling to repair the leg, then the dog was put to sleep. As far as he was aware, there were no reports in the veterinary literature about repairing fractures months after they happened. But he felt that he dog would have a much better chance of finding a new home if the leg was repaired and that was reason enough to go in and fix the problem. Since then he has done many cases for us and in all cases the results have been excellent. So, again, we are able to save the world for one of these poor dogs.

I would like to take the opportunity to take you to visit some of our recent cases and show some of the things that we can do to help our rescue dogs.

Lopez the Galgo

I received a rather confusing telephone message; apparently, someone was bringing in a galgo from Sevilla for me to look at. As it turned out, Estrella a lady from Sevilla, who also is involved in dog rescue, had picked up two dogs, a galgo and a podenco/galgo cross. The dogs had clearly been abandoned and a car had probably hit the poor galgo as his back leg was hanging down and was swollen up to double its normal size. Nobody was prepared to help Estrella and the vets would not take responsibility for the dog. She contacted Fabienne to see if ACE could help and Fabienne rang me. Now we are rather good at fixing broken legs so I was confident that we would be able to help. So Estrella put the two dogs into her car and drove down 200 kms from Sevilla to Fuengirola. The dogs arrived and I gave him a sedative and painkillers so that I would be able to take X-rays to see what was wrong. I found a simple fracture in the femur or thighbone and that the leg was swollen up to double its size. I rang Carlos and made an appointment for the surgery I was rather pleased that I was sending him a fresh fracture and not one that was months old but I was concerned by the swelling. He told me that because the galgos have such muscle development in their legs then this spectacular swelling was quite normal and that I should not worry about it. So the next day Lopez as we named him went to Carlos to have his leg fixed. What looked like a simple fracture on X-rays was in fact more complex as there was a fissure in the bone as well so the repair was more complex than initially expected. Carlos reduced the fracture and repaired it using a bone plate and an intramedulary pin. Lopez came home the next day looking pleased with himself and already he was starting to put his foot down and walk on that leg. After a few days the swelling subsided and now he is happy in a home in Belgium and best of all, he has gone with his friend Juanito the podenco so that the will stay together.

Dena and Nico

These two dogs came to the Refugio just two weeks ago. Both of them had problems. Poor Dena had a badly shattered pelvis and on top of this was pregnant. The accident, probably she had been hit by a car, had happened about two weeks ago so in her case, cage rest in one of our hospital cages was all she needs for her pelvis. But with a shattered pelvis there is no way we could leave her to have the puppies so she has had the pregnancy terminated and been sterilised. Nico had a fracture of the femur and this was more recent than Dena’s case. He went to Carlos who repaired the fracture, it was quite a complex fracture as the bone was fragmented into small pieces but Carlos has skilfully repaired the leg and so Nico will be able to go to his new home in about a month’s time.

Molly

Molly arrived at the Refugio with 8 puppies and a twisted leg I took X-rays and to my surprise she has a complete carpal luxation. She has sustained an injury whereby her paw has been torn of her forearm none of the bones are broken but she has undergone severe ligament damage and the paw has reattached itself off to one side giving her leg a twisted look. Once we wean her puppies then we will send her to Carlos who will re-attach her paw back where it is supposed to go so she will have a straight leg and will be able to walk normally again

Fido

by our veterinary Paul Hindson

This is the update on Fido. Fido has leishmaniasis and we are treating him for it but in spite of the treatment his skin has got worse rather than better. I took him back to the hospital because it is difficult to monitor the treatment while he is at the refugio. I repeated the leismania treatment but with few if any results and so it became obvious to me that there is something else wrong with Fido apart from the Leishmania.

So what is Fido´s problem? He has a scaly, crusty dermatitis. There is puritus. The dermatitis is generalised, in particular, face, periocular and dorsal nose, ears, on top of head, ventral neck. On fore legs, from the carpus distally and all of hind legs. The dermatitis is affecting the caudal third of the body; there are no signs of bilateral symmetry. The tail is without hair. From my description you can imagine that Fido is not a pretty sight, he also has seborea and the skin smells greasy

The clinical picture is in my opinion compatible with:

Atopy

Sarcoptic Mange
Demodex

Dermatofite Infestation

Pyoderma

Malassezia

Food Allergy

OTHERS

So what are we doing, what is the plan.

First I did not find Demodex on a skin scraping so I rule that one out. Now I am not very good with the microscope at finding sarcoptes but I attended a seminar given by Denny Scot and he advised that, if you suspect sarcoptes, treat it. So I follow his advice, I have treated Fido with injectable Ivermectin and Amitraz baths.

Dermatofite infestation I think is unlikely as these are not usually puritic conditions, but in presence of secondary bacterial contamination and or Malazzesia puritus may be a factor. We are bathing Fido with a ketoconazol shampoo, this should take care of Dermatofites and Malazzesia, and I have treated him with Convenia, the long acting antibiotic recommended for pyoderma.

I am not convinced that this is Atopy, firstly, I did not get a good response to steroids alone, secondly, the lesions and their distribution is not what I usually see with Atopy, the dogs behaviour and attitude dose not quite fit. On the whole its a gut feeling rather than scientific fact, I am not a dermatologist although I have done many dermatology seminars over 25 years of small animal practice and Atopy just dose not seem right.

My gut feeling is that this is a food allergy; the clinical picture seems to fit (although any combination of the above diseases can give an identical picture.) I have started on a hypoalergenic diet, H.A. by Advance (ex Purina) and as Fido is hospitalised I can be sure that he only gets this food and no other

I am afraid that what I am doing is not good medicine; one should get a diagnosis first and not treat for every thing at once. In fact, my plan was to test out the food allergy, hence the diet, but I realised that I had not taken into account Sarcoptic mange, and I am certain that there is Malazzesia and Secondary Bacterial contamination hence my approach.

The good side is that the therapy seems to be working as Fido’s skin is improving and we do see some hair regrowth. I must take some pictures soon so I have a record of just how bad he was.

Someone might ask why I am going to such trouble for a rescue dog. He looks awful and no one in his or her right mind is likely to adopt him. But Fido is one of the most happy, friendly, loving dogs that I have seen in a long time, it would be too easy to give up and put him to sleep but I feel that Fido deserves my best efforts and if I can control his condition, then maybe someone will give him the loving home that he deserves, whoever takes him on will not be disappointed.

Paul Hindson

ACE Veterinarian

October 24, 2007

Picture Update 13/11/2007:

Pata

"Tales from the Bone Pile"

by our veterinary Paul Hindson

Another dog from the Malaga pound, Pata was found and taken to the pound. Fabienne saw him there and told me about him, a dog with funny legs who walks like a duck. Obviously, something is seriously wrong with the bones in his leg. Now Malaga pound is not very good with bones and on the other hand, we at the Refugio thanks to Dr Carlos Macias, our bone specialist, have been successful at treating the most complex orthopaedic procedures.

Pata has a deformity caused by premature closure of the growth plate in one of the bones in his fore legs and this results in his foot twisting outwards, the other leg is normal. This condition is caused by trauma to the dog’s leg and has nothing to do with lack of calcium in the diet nor is it a congenital defect.

So, what does this mean? To explain this clearly you need to know something about the anatomy of the bones in a dog’s leg and understand how the bones grow in a young dog.

Here is a line drawing of the bones in the forelimb of a dog. This part of its leg would correspond to the forearm in a human. At the top of the picture you can see the dogs elbow, and the two bones that form the forelimb; The Radius, marked “B” is on the right side, and the Ulna, marked “C” on the left. Notice how both bones are straight and parallel and are the same length from point 15 to 18 on the ulna as from point 16 to 9 in the radius.

In a young dog the bones grow in length from an area called the growth plate. The dog has two such areas in each of the long bones of the forelimb; these are situated towards the extremities of the bones.

In a young growing dog this area is very active, there are many blood vessels that bring in nutrients that are necessary for bone growth, and, as new bone is laid down, the growth plate moves on down and so the bone gets longer. For normal development of the forelimb it is crucial that bones grow together and at the same rate.

If the dog suffers an injury to the lower part of the forelimb then the blood supply to the growth plate may be compromised. If this happens then the growth plate ceases to produce new bone and dries up and closes so the bone no longer grows or grows much more slowly. Now in the dog, the growth plate of the ulna is the most susceptible to damage and what happens is that the radius grows normally while the ulna dose not. The consequences are that the radius gets longer and bows forward, held back by the stunted ulna, and the foot gets twisted outwards

So this is what has happened to poor Pata. We took him to Carlos and he will operate to correct this condition, we took measurements of the bones to be sure that pata has finished growing, because we mustn’t operate until pata has stopped growing. Pata will go back to Carlos at the end of the month and by then we will fix a date for his surgery: So, more news will follow.

Paul Hindson

October 23, 2007

Pocholo

by our veterinary Paul Hindson

When I arrived at the Clinic I saw a small-frightened puppy with a horribly swollen foot, it was at least double the size of a normal foot. He had a bandage that had been tied too tightly and was cutting off the circulation and this caused the foot to swell up. Also, there was a stench of rotting meat so I knew that there was a bad infection under the bandage.

The first thing to do was to remove the bandage. Underneath I found two ulcers one was so deep that you could see the bones of the poor dogs paw.

Now it may sound strange but when you have wounds caused by a bandage you have to treat the condition with bandage. I carefully cleaned the wounds with an antiseptic solution to treat the infection and then I used a hidrogell and a hydrocolloid dressing on the wound. This allows the wound to clean itself and creates a favourable environment for healing ant new tissue growth. I then re bandaged the leg and arranged for the dog to return every 2 days for a bandage change.

After only I week the wound was clean and starting to heal from this point it was only a matter of time till the dog made a complete recovery. I would like to thank the kind people from ACE SHIN who sent me the hydrocolloid dressings that have been instrumental in saving the leg of this puppy.

Paul Hindson

October 11, 2007

Victorio

by our veterinary Paul Hindson

I heard that there was a dog with a broken leg in the Malaga pound and as we are rather good at fixing fractures I asked Fabienne to bring him in.

He arrived, a Yorkshire terrier pup of about six months of age with a plaster cast on his leg.

Firstly, I decided to X-ray the leg, this was to enable me to see the state of the fracture, from this I could get some idea of how long the plaster cast would need to stay on and by taking serial radiographs monitor the healing. I confess that there was a second reason for me to want to see the fracture, immobilisation in a plaster cast is perhaps not one of the first line treatments in canine orthopaedics, the casts have their use but only in a few specific cases

Now one of the indications for using a plaster cast might be a non-displaced fracture of the bones in the forearm or perhaps a fracture of the digits. To my surprise I did not see a fracture at all in this area so I decided to remove the cast.

After I removed the cast the fracture was obvious.

The humerus or bone between the shoulder and elbow was broken just above the elbow; the plaster cast was in fact below the level of the fracture.

So we were up against an extremely difficult fracture to repair, especially in a dog so small there was hardly room to work on the bones. This type of fracture needs specialist treatment and should only be attempted by a very experienced surgeon. Fortunately, we have such a person here locally. Dr Carlos Macias is a diplomate in orthopaedics and one of the few Royal Collage Of Veterinary Surgeons recognised specialists so I have total confidence that Carlos will be able to fix it.

This is what he did. On the inside of the leg he was able to place a bone plate that he specialy shaped to fit the contours of the bone, some how he placed 3 bone screws in the tiny fragment and then another 4 screws in the body of the bone. This reduced the fracture and to obtain optimum support and rigidity he placed an external fixator on the outside of the leg. He placed two pins in the body of the bone and one in the fragment and joined these pins with a supporting bar. Now the fracture was reduced and fixed in away to promote healing.

We hospitalised poor Vitorio for two weeks in one of our hospital cages so as to give him complete rest for optimum healing then he was sent to a foster home for three weeks.

After five weeks he went back to Carlos for control X-rays and to see if we could remove the external fixation splint. The radiographs revealed that Vitorio was healing well and that he no longer needed the extra support and so we were able to remove the splint and now he is ready for adoption.

Paul Hindson

September 18, 2007

Dear all,

As you may already know, we are currently busy renovating El Refugio. We have many plans and thoughts, we want to change a lot, improve a lot, all on behalf of the strays.

Last weekend the digging work started, tubes and waterpipes adjusted, etc., now we start with concrete work around the cages, and the construction of our future clinic.

We hope to grow into a Refugio how it´s supposed to be, with all necessary needs on site. Slowly we will get there.

The cost will be around € 5000, we can pay bit by bit. We would like to thank the Vervoort family, who donated us an incredible amount of € 2500, we used this amount to pay for the kick off of this project!

But, there is more money needed....if you want to help the strays, please help us by making a donation...Many thanks for your support!

We will keep you posted with everything,

kind regards,

Fabiënne

June 19, 2007