Tripawd Tuesday: Snowball’s Second Chance

Today for Tripawd Tuesday we’re sharing an exciting story about Snowball, a three-legged girldog with a brand new prosthetic leg!

Artificial legs for Tripawds are an exciting option for some dogs and cats. If a vet can save at least half of their bad leg, these Tripawds are great candidates for prosthetic limbs. Our interviews with OrthoPets tell more, but meanwhile see how Snowball is doing with her new leg made by this great company (the best as far as we’re concerned!). Her people told us how it happened:

I got my leg back today! 😊 pic.twitter.com/DsqMKsZvcH

— Snowball (@tripawdsnowball) July 2, 2016

Tripawd Snowball Gets a Brand New Start . . . and a New Leg!

I’m Snowball (I’m a lady) I was born a plain old quad pod about 3 years (almost 4!) ago in a dog yard in Delta, Alaska.

My dad rescued me now I live in Anchorage, even though I was there with my family. It got kinda scary, I have a scar on my ear from my own mom, can you believe it? I didn’t really understand what humans were all about and thought they were kinda scary. But my dad and his female were very patient with me and now I’m very happy to be around all these 2-legged guys.

@sophiagrace24 @kirushable she’s doing so good! 😁 pic.twitter.com/1zNDRd5VCz

— Nats (@gnattatat) May 22, 2016

About 10 months ago mom and dad weren’t home and left me to baby sit this obnoxious puppy we were housing for a while. Well I saw a “window of opportunity” and I went for it. I took myself on a little bit of a walk but then this unknown lady was staring me down and walking towards me and I kept my distance but then bam! I got hit by a car! I tried to run away but something was different and instead of standing up, I face-planted.

The same strange lady scooped me up and brought me to the vet. I don’t remember too much after I got there they injected me with something that made me super sleepy and numb. I remember seeing mom and dad. Mom smelled worried and I’ve never seen dad cry before. I made sure to lick all the salty off it. I heard something about a “brachioplexus avulsion” Hours later I was carried out and placed into my moms arms and I was back in our car, I love our car. When I went out to go potty later I kept eating it on the grass, no problem, if I hopped it was fine.

Eye liner is on point always 💁 #snowball #tripawd #prosthetic #animalprosthetic #dogsoftwitter pic.twitter.com/ZKzMhEkn3H

— Snowball (@tripawdsnowball) June 20, 2016

For a while I hurt a lot. I let mom and dad know by shouting really loud every time I felt a weird tingle or pain in my arm. And my paw, it wasn’t listening to me! My dad put me in some weird underwater sidewalk, I’m not a huge fan, but it helped my muscles move. My paw never moved again though. One day I’d had enough and tried to lick it till the sucker worked again! My parents kept saying stop and wrapping it up but the thing hurt and I didn’t want it! One night the paw looked bad and smelled bad, I went back to the vet, they shaved off fur up to my back!

Hours later a lady took me on a walk, she seemed impressed with my stride. She called dad, I could hear his voice, the lady said something about “controversial,” and “don’t want to take it all,” and something about “better functionality” there was a really long pause. I could hear moms voice finally my dad said, “go ahead, save what you can” I woke to the vets, they love me here, drugged again, then dad was there.

Hopping was so much easier after that night and there was no more pain (still some tingles though) and though I still ate grass a lot my mom and dad pushed me to do it all. I don’t have a paw but I use my leg a lot and when I run and play, it can even touch the ground. This seemed to bug my parents they are always checking the “nub” sometimes it get cut up on he ground so they cover it real good.

Practicing our cat walk strut #pegleg #dogprosthetic #tripawd pic.twitter.com/r3BQNmfgwq

— Snowball (@tripawdsnowball) June 20, 2016

About a month ago my mom presented me with my new leg from OrthoPets. She put it on and I showed off. She was beaming. She and I worked together a lot with the new leg.

My parents Natalie and Kirill were really impressed with me. I was up and moving first day out on my new leg!

They prepared me well for having things on my nub. They put bandages,” nub socks” (really just St. Bernard fleece dog booties) and all kind of things to keep it from being cut up, so I’m kind of used to things going on there. Plus it means we are about to go do something fun! Running and playing is pretty easy but mom makes me walk really slow and makes me take really big steps.

For some reason really short walks have been super exhausting and my shoulder gets pretty sore but my parents are super encouraging. I have to sent away my leg for a bit to get a slightly better fit but we’ll get it back real soon. Then my parents and I are going on a road trip so I can go say thanks to the Colorado guys that made me my new leg!

I’m getting the hang of this thing! I’ll do anything for dad😊😁🐶#dogprosthetic@OrthoPets#tripawdpic.twitter.com/sH2Cxoy8xv

— Snowball (@tripawdsnowball) July 6, 2016

Read All Tripawd Tuesday Stories

Share Your Tripawd Tuesday Tale

Each Tuesday, Tripawds from around the world can enter for a chance to be “Tripawd of the Week.” Just share your Tripawd’s story and you’re entered to win! On every Tuesday of the week, tell us about your three-legged hero here in the Tripawds Discussion Forums or on the Tripawds Facebook page. Just follow these easy steps:

1. In a few short sentences, describe your three-legged hero’s story.
2. Include a photo or video.
3. Include a link to your Tripawds Forum topic and/or Tripawds blog, social media handles, etc.
   

All entries must be received by Saturday at 11:59 pm. One Tripawd story will be selected at random to be featured the following Tuesday.

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