“She can’t live in pain, she needs to be fixed, we need to end this somehow and get her back to how she was”
Age: Six years old
Breed: Shih-Tzu
Her Family: Lucky lives with Gary and Warin, after they rescued her as an unwanted pet four years ago. She came with a few bad habits, including nervousness and a tendency to snap at strangers… but despite her behaviour, Lucky has a loving family giving her a second chance.
The Problem: Lucky was referred to Fitzpatrick Referrals due to severe arthritis in her hip, she could barely walk, and Gary had to carry her everywhere. Lucky was living in pain, and the couple knew they had to find her a solution to give her a quality of life back. Noel was concerned at the amount of pain Lucky was in and sent her for advanced imaging including a CT scan. Unfortunately, the results showed that Lucky had cancer in her hip, and possibly further cancer in her abdomen.
Treatment: The diagnosis left Lucky with very few options. After further blood tests and consultations with the specialists at Fitzpatrick’s Oncology & Soft Tissue hospital, it was decided that amputation of her leg and part of her pelvis was the safest way forward, followed by removal of the adrenal tumour. Lucky’s leg and part of her pelvis were removed first and, after a few weeks of recovery, she was taken to see Noel’s colleagues at the Fitzpatrick Oncology & Soft Tissue hospital, who undertook the surgery to remove the adrenal tumour. Luckily the tumours were found to be benign, meaning that the surgical treatment performed should be curative.
Outcome: Two months later and Lucky made a full recovery from her two surgeries. She has fully adjusted to life on three legs and is thriving living her life without pain. For Gary and Warin to see her walking and running is an incredible change after all the months before. She doesn’t even notice she only has three legs, she just knows she is no longer in pain.