{"id":430,"date":"2015-06-03T16:28:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-03T16:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/?p=430"},"modified":"2015-06-03T20:53:36","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T20:53:36","slug":"gentle-dog-saved-by-angel-from-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/2015\/06\/03\/gentle-dog-saved-by-angel-from-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Gentle Dog Saved By Angel From Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \"Fourth-year<\/a>\n
Fourth-year veterinary student, Jennifer Moore, was assigned to care for Wombat during his stay at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

If you want to see living proof that pit bulls can be sweet, gentle dogs, you just have to meet Wombat. Despite a very rough start in life, including bad owners and painful ear infections, he greets everyone, dog or human, with a happy face and wagging tail.<\/p>\n

When Wombat was young, his ears were mutilated in a botched, at-home, ear cropping attempt. The resulting damage to his ear canals left him with constant infections and significant hearing loss. Then he ended up in a Los Angeles animal shelter. Because pit bulls are euthanized at a much greater rate than other breeds, his hopes of survival were slim.<\/p>\n

Lucky for Wombat, a guardian angel from Oregon came to his rescue.<\/p>\n

Liesl Wilhardt is the executive director and founder of Luvable Dog Rescue<\/a>, a Eugene organization dedicated to re-homing exceptional, loving dogs rescued from high-kill shelters. \u201cI was so moved by his story, I started working to get him transferred to my shelter,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was a victim of cruelty and ignorance, who has remained gentle, patient, and trusting with every human who has befriended and cared for him. I love this dog so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Wombat was settled in Eugene, Wilhardt took him to Edgewood Animal Clinic where Dr. Jason Kimball quickly realized that the only way to control his rampant ear infections was through a total ear canal ablation and bulla osteotomy (TECO-BO) in both ears.<\/p>\n

The delicate, complex surgery removes damaged ear canals, and diseased tissue in the middle ears. It requires an experienced veterinary surgeon and Wilhardt knew just where to go. \u201cFrom working with OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) in the past, I knew the surgeons, residents, and students could provide Wombat with the exceptional care he would need,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She also knew the cost of the surgery would be a challenge, so she asked one of her volunteers, U of O student Claire Colby, to help create a video of Wombat\u2019s story. The video<\/a> was posted on You Tube and Go Fund Me, and raised most of the money needed.<\/p>\n

Dr. Katy Townsend is a board-certified, soft tissue surgeon at the VTH. She agreed to perform the challenging surgery. \u201cDue to the high risk of complication with this surgery, we decided to do one ear at a time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n \"Pre-surgery:<\/a>\n
Pre-surgery: Wombat’s ears were chronically infected due to a botched home ear-cropping.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

In April, Liesl brought Wombat to the hospital for his first surgery. She also brought his best buddy, Pika, for moral support. Third-year student Jennifer Kelsey assisted with Wombat\u2019s intake exam: \u201cI was not expecting his ears to be so bad,\u201d she says. \u201cI had never seen ears so calcified. He must have been in extreme pain, but he still greeted us, wagging his tail, with lots of kisses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his stay in the hospital, fourth-year student Jennifer Moore was assigned to his case, and responsible for his care. \u201cI was essentially his advocate, and spent a lot of time making sure he was comfortable and healthy,\u201d she says. It was a great learning experience for her. \u201cI was so excited to be a part of the process; seeing a TECA-BO was on my bucket list of procedures to observe.\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Although the surgery went well, and Wombat was able to go home, he developed an abscess that spread to his salivary gland, requiring further surgery. \u201cWe did not raise enough money to cover this,\u201d says Wilhardt, \u201cso I\u2019m hoping people will read your story and help us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Wombat was able to have his left ear repaired and, so far, has had no complications. Wilhardt now has the challenging job of keeping him quiet so he can heal. \u201cHe can\u2019t play with Pika for two weeks,\u201d she says. \u201cI have been applying ice packs to both sides of his face several times a day. He is very good about sitting still while I do this; in fact, he usually falls asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"Post<\/a>\n
Post surgery: Wombat and Pika with fourth-year student Lisa Onstott, surgery resident Jesse Terry, and Liesl Wilhardt, director of Luvable Pet Rescue.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Wombat\u2019s hearing was minimal before surgery, but now seems to be entirely gone. \u201cHe is adjusting to a world with no sound,\u201d says Wilhardt. \u201cBut the good news is that he is more comfortable than I have ever seen him. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s the first time in his life that he has not been in pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Wombat\u2019s caregivers credit his successful recovery to his remarkable personality. \u201cTo overcome such an invasive process as quickly as he did, he had to have a very positive personality,\u201d says Moore. \u201cHe was the best patient I could have asked for in any situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWombat has an unconquerable spirit,\u201d says Wilhardt. \u201cHe is young and happy, and as soon as he heals, he should be able to have a long, enjoyable life.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can help Luvable Dog Rescue pay for Wombat’s surgery on his Go Fund Me website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to see living proof that pit bulls can be sweet, gentle dogs, you just have to meet Wombat. Despite a very rough start in life, including bad owners and painful ear infections, he greets everyone, dog or human, with a happy face and wagging tail. When Wombat was young, his ears were… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1802,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3FFxI-6W","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1802"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions\/442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/animalconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}