Dog hit in Mattawa area recovering from surgery
Adams County Pet Rescue/courtesy photo This photo was taken before Wahluke went in to have his broken leg surgically repaired.
MATTAWA — People from the area showed an outpouring of compassion for a young puppy with a broken leg the past two weeks.
A seven-month-old German shepherd puppy was found on the side of the road near Mattawa with a compound fractured humerus on Tuesday, Jan. 29. Thanks to a plea for help from the Adams County Pet Rescue in Othello and many generous people, the puppy has had surgery and is on his way to recovery.
“The man who found him took him to the vet,” said Kyya Grant, director for the Adams County Pet Rescue. “The vet told him to bring the puppy here.”
The Adams County Pet Rescue, who named the puppy Wahluke, asked for help in finding his owner.
“The owner did contact us a day or two later,” Grant said. “He surrendered Wahluke to us. He couldn’t pay for him.”
At the same time, they also sent out a plea via Facebook for $3,000 in donations to help with surgery to restore Wahluke’s leg. Overall, a total of 203 people donated.
“We had the amount within 18 hours,” said Grant. “We had people who called and donated over the phone, sent in checks and went through PayPal. Facebook people are pretty amazing. From what it looks like, people donated from all over the United States. Two people donated larger chunks. Others donated $5, $10, $15 or $100. It all adds up.”
Wahluke was originally scheduled for surgery at the WSU Veterinary School on Friday, Feb. 1. Due to a dog with a pelvic fracture and other emergencies, the surgery wasn’t performed until Tuesday, Feb. 5.
Dr. Laura Chen, the vet who performed the operation, told Grant that quite a bit of muscle manipulation had to be done to repair Wahluke’s leg.
“She said that he would be pretty sore,” said Grant. “She thought it went very well and was happy with the surgery.”
The puppy arrived back at the Adams County Pet Rescue the day after his operation and was picked up by his potential adopter the following day.
“We couldn’t neuter him now,” Grant said. “We are going to wait eight weeks to finalize the adoption. The man has been calling every day. If the amount wasn’t raised, he was going to pay for the rest of the surgery. He has been lining up doggy physical therapists in Spokane.”
Wahluke’s new home will be in Spokane, close to his new therapists.
“Wahluke is an amazingly sweet dog,” added Grant. “He is easy to work with. He let us do all the poking and prodding. He is an amazingly good dog.”