Charlie Update

We just got this wonderful video update in from Charlie, look how great he is doing! Hard to imagine just a few months ago we were recommend to amputate his right leg with no hope of saving it, well thanks to Dr. Auger and everyone who contributed to saving him we can say he is one happy dog. Although we are still paying off his medical bill (www.elevenelevenanimalrescue.org/Sponsor_an_Animal.html) this makes it all worth it!

Thank you to Jim and Marie for giving him exactly the happy ending he deserves.

Sponsor an Animal – Charlie

Charlie had his follow-up evaluation by Dr. Auger last week, it is now 8 weeks post operation. It is hard to believe it has already been 8 weeks since the accident, since we almost had to say goodbye to him uncertain if he would even make the night. Well 8 weeks later, he is doing fantastic and is almost in full use of his leg that 2 doctors and the specialist were not even sure if it would be able to be saved.

They took a third set of follow up x-rays, everything has healed almost perfectly. There is a fragment of bone that is not 100% attached to the main bone, but Dr. Auger says with time it will attach itself. The break through the femur head has healed, along with all the other breaks. However the one concerning factor is that the 14 inch plate needed to keep all he pins and bone together is now rubbing against Charlie's knee joint, and causing irritation which is resulting in damage. We have been told exactly what we feared the worst.. we are going to have to go back into surgery. In a few months from now, once everything has healed even more we are going to have to go back into surgery to remove the plate and pins. The estimation for this surgery is 1000$ if everything goes well. Oh Charlie, our million dollar baby.

On a better note, he is doing great in his new home and slowly adapting to the new family and rules. He is pushing his limits, like he does (which is how he got in the accident in the first place), and seeing how much he can get away with. They have so far only lost a few sandwiches and a banana bread loaf to his counter surfing habits. Because of his cage rest, and pent-up energy he had taken the habit of burning this pent up energy by stalking their cat. Which they have been working with, and he is now responding and leaving the cat alone for the most part. They none the less, love him.

To read more about Charlie, or contribute please see here:

http://www.elevenelevenanimalrescue.org/Sponsor_an_Animal.html

Charlie received his Pick-Me-Up gift from the Twitter community!

We always love how supportive the twitter community is!

@BorisKitty, @LouPeb, and @MtlCritters fellow twitter community friends came together to show support for Charlie. They sent over a very thought full get-well-soon gift package for Charlie, which he very much appreciated!

Charlie Update - ADOPTED! / THANK YOU

We are happy to tell you with great excitement, that today we have brought Charlie to his new home 2 hours up north.. Charlie has been finally adopted. I shared my home and heart with this lovely gentlemen for 8 months, and will miss having his big head greeting me or resting on my lap. I will miss his gigantic kisses, and big hugs. I will miss him rolling around in my lap for belly rubs with failing limbs, that sometimes got me in the face by accident. I will miss him sitting in my lap, or trying to, even if he did not really fit. I will miss the look on his face when he knows he did something wrong, or how he was always excited to see me even if i was not at my 'best'... i will miss him. But he has now found his forever home, a family entirely for himself.

The family he has been adopted into is exceptional, and has decades of experience with this breed. He is an only child of the family, and will be down right spoiled dirty-rotten. He has plenty of acres to run fee in (with no cars of course), a lake to spend his summer next to, and most importantly a family to call his own. We are told not to expect him back, he is there to stay.

We have enjoyed our time with him, and concurred many feats towards promoting a good name for pit-bulls with him. Many people may not know that he was actually a favorite at the old age home my grandmother resides in. He broke boundaries, and opened up minds. He welcomed adults or infants, puppies or dogs, with the kindest nature and biggest kisses. He is a mascot for the breed, and has made a huge impact on the way many people viewed pit-bulls before they met him. We hope, and know he will continue to do so for the rest of his life.

He has become one of Eleven Eleven’s mascots, and always will be.

I first met Charlie September 4th, 2009, when he was brought in to be euthanized by his previous owner at just over a year old. I was 2 hours into a 12 hour shift, and had until the end of the day to rescue him or he would meet his fate. He was huge, and weighed as much as I did, but he was such a good dog, that’s all I could describe him as, a good dog. Because he was, and is, and I promised him I would do everything in my power to save him. Which I did, and in-between two 30-minute beaks that day I found a place for him to go that night. At the end of the shift, we took him to his new temporary home. He later had to change fosters, to Joanne. He was so out of control, massive, and had no training that his fosters felt he could never be placed. So I got him a personal trainer, that worked with them one on one through his issues. He then went to classes every week with the foster. Thankfully to the wonderful, dedicated foster home and mommy, Joanne (who is also my mother), we turned this out-of-control teenager into a well-mannered gentlemen. But despite his perfect temperament, and immaculate training, due to breed prejudice, Charlie was overlooked and no one was even interested in adopting him. We had him for 8 months, and were ready to keep him another year if needed until he found his home.

Then in March, I got the phone call. Charlie had gotten away, and had been hit by a car. I did not even hesitate, he was rushed to the emergency clinic within 20 minutes at 1am and was already going into shock. X-Rays revealed a shattered femur. At first glance the vet said to just amputate. But I am stubborn, and I promised Charlie like I promise all of the rescues that I would do everything in my power for him. Which I did, he was seen by a specialist who was not sure if he could save the leg either. I still pushed forward; within 10 hours of the accident Charlie went into reconstructive surgery to piece the leg back together (literally). 4, 000$, five hours, 12 screws and a 14 inch plate later, his leg was back in one piece. It was the hardest surgery the doctor has ever done successfully, and it indeed was successful. He has now regained almost full use of the leg.

Without support and help like yours Eleven Eleven would be helpless, Charlie would be helpless. From the bottom of our hearts, and deeper we sincerely thank you for all of your support. Charlie being saved is a direct result of each and every one of your support, you have helped make a tremendous difference in this very special dogs life.

We have reached close to half of what is needed to recover his surgery funds, and will continue to pay off his debt (for a while). Slowly, but surely. If we had to do it again, we would in a heart beat. He was worth every penny needed to save his life, however many times we have had to save his life.

We also have a special thank you to say to his foster home Joanne who made this perfect dog what he is today, and The Under Dog Club for the wonderful support they have shown us.

Again, THANK YOU from Charlie and the Eleven Eleven Animal Rescue team

Charlie Update

It is hard to imagine just a few weeks ago we were fighting for this man's life, and now here we are, enjoying the spring weather with him. He is strong as he has ever been, happy as he has ever been. We are also trying to get our head's around the fact that next weekend we will be saying goodbye to him as he moves on to the next level in his life, and finally becomes a part of a family.

We love you Charlie, more than i think you will ever understand.

http://www.elevenelevenanimalrescue.org/Sponsor_an_Animal.html

Experienced Veterinary Technicians Join Forces to raise money!

PET BEAUTY DAY FUNDRAISER

NEXT SUNDAY - MARCH 28th

Experience Veterinary Technicians join forces to raise money!

Have experienced and friendly animal health technicians trim your animals nails or clean their ears for only $15 for the two and $10 for one!

Naturalanimal and Pawtisserie and Eleven Eleven Animal Rescue welcome cats, dogs, and rabbits on Sunday, March 28th at 11am to take part in a fundraiser the rescue.

All proceeds from the event will go to the surgery for our beautiful survivor Charlie, who was hit by a car only 1 week ago. To read more about Charlie's story visit

http://www.elevenelevenanimalrescue.org/Sponsor_an_Animal.html

Technicians from the following veterinary clinics:
The Animal Health Clinic - http://www.animalhealthclinic.ca
The Poirier O'Brien Clinic - http://www.vetpoirierobrien.com
The Riv-Sud Veterinary Clinic - http://www.hvrs.com

Charlie Update - Picked up from the hospital tonight

We went by to pick Charlie up tonight after his bag of iv pain killers was finished. He is now on Meatcam and Tremadol to help with the pain. Even with the epidural he got yesterday, being on iv pain killers since Thursday night, Metacam and the Tremadol.. he is still in an immense amount of pain. He hardly wants to stand or move, but even sitting or lying is also hard for him. He just can not seem to find the right position to sleep.

The car ride was an adventure in itself. Every bump, pot hole, turn, start or stop all was painful for him. He panted and trembled the whole time, and licked ny hand as if he was asking me how i can make it go away. We all know what the roads in Montreal are like. I cringed the entire ride home for him, it was torture.

He is finally safe and sound in his big new crate that he will have to call home for the next two months of strict bed rest. But i think he is happy to be out of the clinic. He was originally abandoned in a veterinary clinic when he was brought in to be euthanized by his previous owner, because he no longer had time for him. Because of that clinics are always stressful for him, he had no idea we have not abandoned him and will be coming back. Every time we go to one he anticipates being abandoned again. Little does he know, or maybe he should by now, over our dead bodies will that ever happen to him again.

Now it is plenty of meds, rest, tlc and then physiotherapy starting in 8 weeks that will last for months. But at least the hardest part for him is over, he survived a huge surgery and even got out of if with his leg still in place.

Now the hardest part for us is about to start, raising funds to pay off this surgery. We are in the hole right now, a very big and deep hole. With that it also means until Charlie's surgery is paid off.. with our deepest sympathy, we will no longer be able to accept anymore animals in need into the rescue. Our doors will be bolted shut, it would be irresponsible for us to take on anymore as we at this moment in time would have no means of paying for their medical care.

We will be hosting a fundraiser - pet beauty day at Naturalanimal in Westmount on March 28th (Sunday). Nail cut's and ear cleanings, full details to be announced soon. We hope to see you all there!

For now... he is happy to be back with his best little friend:

Charlie Update - Leg was saved and in one piece (sort of).. after a 4 hour surgery!

4000$, 12 screws, 1 fourteen inch plate, a bunch of wires, 4 veterinary technicians, 2 surgeons, and over 4 hours later.. Charlie's leg was able to be saved.

... out moto is, we will see our rescues through thick and thin, through everything that may come their way. Once we take them into the rescue, they are our responsibility and we will fight teeth an nails for them until the very end. Well.. Charlie certainly took us for the whole 8 yards on this one..

Charlie went into surgery today at around 2pm.. and got out of surgery at 6:30pm. The extent of the injuries was one of the worst the specialist has ever seen, and the worst he has operated on successfully. Charlie was under anesthesia for over 4 hours. The surgery was long, and gruelling, Dr. Auger is the number one orthopaedic specialist in Montréal. If he could not do it, no one could. At times he felt like it was mission impossible and complempated just amputating, but had already gone so far and done so much work, so he pushed forward. It was a puzzle in there, with missing pieces and the pieces that were there just did not seem to fit. He has eleven screws, many wires and one 14 inch plate holding everything together. At least he is bullet proof now (or i hope so), i don't even want to think about trying to get him through airport security. Apparently he will be sensitive to cold in that leg now, go figure? At least the mission impossible was accomplished, and Charlie's leg is there to stay. Amputating it would have been about 300-600$ for us, but we just did not find it ethical to remove a leg that had the potential to be repaired and functioning again (call us crazy).

We were there from 5:30 pm to 8:30, amd went to go see him in the Intensice Care Unit at around 8:00pm before we left. He was totally out of it, completely un responsive. A combination of the anethsia he had been under, his epidural and iv drip fentanly/Metetomadine. Lets just say Charlie is seeing stars right now, and no longer in pain. He was in so much pain last night he was going into shock when he arrived.

His pre-op blood came back pretty normal, so we are not worried about any other damage. Just elevated liver enzymes which is normal with the fact that he was going into shock and muscle damage.

However the hardest part is not over yet he now has 8 weeks cage rest, many check ups, and not to mention physiotherapy. Expected recovery time is at least 3 months. Charlie has already been for adoption with us for seven months.

It is estimated he was hit at about 70 to 120km and hour, also tire marks that curve off the high way over a skunk (Charlie was probably investigating - which is second by his sunk reek) indicate that he was probably targeted by some sick, sick people. The fact that he was hit in the rear and not head on also seconds that. Oh and the tire marks on his back indicate he was fully run over, and is lucky to even be alive.

On another note i can not tell you how many times we were told today "He is such a good dog!!" by the surgeon himself Dr. Auger and every tech that had the pleasure of meeting with him. Even while in x-rays and in such pain he was going into shock.. he still did not even come close to trying to snap at anyone, all licks and tail wags. I can not say for myself i would be that patient if i was in that amount of pain.

Alas once again here we are.. any donation is sincerely appreciated and no donation is too small. We honestly are so grateful for each of your support, we can not even stress that enough.

See his Before and After X-Rays for yourself:

- BEFORE-

- AFTER -

..... we just can not wait until he is back to his normal self and playing with his favourite little friend again..