For those of you who haven’t been following little “Steve Austin” on our facebook or website blogs, here is his touching story …..
Humane Officer Gonzalez responded to a Fresno PD call regarding 2 emaciated pit bulls. Upon arrival, the tenant was not at the property. The dogs were spotted in the back yard. One was completely down and feared dead, the other was still up on its feet, barely.
Humane Officer Gonzalez approached the 2 dogs; both looked like skeletons and were severely dehydrated. When he reached for the white dog, the one they thought was deceased…she wagged her tail. She was alive, barely, but alive.
Upon further inspection of the yard, Officer Gonzalez discovered 2 other dogs locked in a back patio area. One was a pit bull, also emaciated, and the other was a little white terrier mix.
Once Officer Gonzalez got the larger dogs loaded into the truck, he picked up the little dog, that’s when he noticed there was something not right with the little dogs jaw. It was off-set and left his tongue hanging out one side. After x-rays were taken, it was discovered that our little white dog had a non-union, off-set fracture of the jaw bone.
When examined by specialists, it was determined that his jaw could be fixed by straightening it out and placing a metal plate in it to join the broken pieces. But the surgery would be very expensive, so a plea was made to our community for help. And within a matter of a couple of weeks, the little white doggy, now known as Steve Austin, would have his surgery, as more than $4,400 was raised to cover his expenses!
Surgery was performed on March 25, 2013 at Veterinary Specialty Services and Steve came through just fine. He underwent one more procedure later the next day (a bone graft to a very small piece of the jaw) and Dr. Marco Cervi, Steve’s surgeon, says his prognosis remains great and he should recover nicely.
Steve is maintaining that wonderful attitude we all adore him for, has been getting tons of affection from all of us at the CCSPCA Animal Care Center and is doing great! He is healing nicely after jaw reconstruction just 3 weeks ago and is still as happy as ever. Dr. Cervi says he is progressing well and is pleased, thus far, with Steve’s recovery.
You can follow Steve’s on-going progress on our facebook page and through our website blogs.