Thursday, February 05, 2009





Rosie is perhaps the most precious little girl many of us have ever known. Her story is nothing short of miraculous, so similar to those you may view on Animal Cops.

Rosie is a 4 year old Chihuahua, she grew up at a local Fort Collins Dairy in a home with many people and children whom she absolutely adored. Rosie would anxiously wait for the School bus every day looking for the children and following them home. Rosie's life was no cake walk. She resided under the trailer house with her own family of dogs.

One day all of this changed for Rosie, she was running along her merry way as she did every day when she was run over by a truck. Rosie, in an enormous amount of pain was placed by her owners on their front porch step next to a filthy jacket and a dead starling that the cat had brought as an offering. The weather was below freezing that day. She lay for two days, in shock and freezing on the front porch of this run down house with her frozen bowl of milk next to her. Her pain was unbearable.

A kind woman came to Rosie's rescue after two days had gone by. Dawn from Fort Collins saw this poor little girl and immediately came to her rescue. Dawn was able to gain ownership of Rosie and set to calling every rescue group she could find asking for help for this little girl. Dawn had x-rays done and discovered that Rosie needed an orthopedic surgeon immediately. Dawn Contact Denkai Animal Sanctuary, we were happy to send out an e-mail requesting help.

Lori Montano brought her down to Downtown Animal Clinic here in Denver, were Dr. Umlauf, the premier orthopedic veterinary surgeon in Colorado, performed the necessary surgery to fix her several injuries.

There were, I believe, four fractures to repair, including one of her acetabulum/femoral head area. There were no dislocations, so there shouldn't be a problem in the future with aseptic necrosis of the femoral head often caused if this kind of injury is not repaired quickly.

Dr. Umlauf donated all of his time to perform the surgery, and more importantly paid the clinic to use the surgical suite and the facilities for her subsequent recovery out of his own pocket. If there is any way donations for this pup could be used to pay some of the vet clinic expenses, it would it be much appreciated.

Thank you all for all of your concern and help with this sweet girl. She wins the hearts of everyone with whom she comes in contact and I am so glad she will have a caring and responsible home to go to. In particular, thanks to Dawn who showed the concern in the first place to rescue this pup from her former owners who left her to languish in pain, and who continues to check in with Lori every day to find out how she's doing. Thanks to Floss Blackburn of Denkai Sanctuary who sent out the appeal. Thanks to Lori Montano who contacted the surgeon after I forwarded Floss' email to her. Thanks to Dr. Emily for keeping in touch with the surgeon to get regular updates that I can pass along to all concerned. Thanks to Bob for giving this sweet pup a home when she's ready to leave the clinic. Thanks to Dr. McManus and Mary and all the staff at the Downtown Animal Clinic for their time and care and concern for this pup. And a very special thanks to Dr. Ed Umlauf who performed the surgeries on this sweet angel pup out of his own pocket.

And most importantly, thank you to Bob Grube, Vice President for Denkai Animal Sanctuary for giving Rosie the best home she could have ever hoped for!