Animal Rescue File #3: PollitoA New Animal Rescue Story: Puppy Pollito gets a second chance after recovering from a hit and run. With only a carton box to protect the 2 months old Pollito from the cold mountain night, he was shivering when finally found outside the veterinary clinic next morning. When veterinarian Viktor van Marrewijk inspected the puppy it was clear that just the cold night wasn’t his main concern. A fractured tibial bone was sticking out through the skin, and it was already starting to smell bad. Still this ownerless poor creature kept on wagging its tail, possibly knowing that from then on it would only get better...
Without any pain sensation and with a foul smell coming from the open fracture, the left hind could not be saved. A radiograph of the pelvic region showed a fracture line in the pelvic bone on the right side. This would mean that after amputating the left hind leg, Pollito (little chicken in Spanish) would not be able to walk on three legs straight away. First he would have to recover from the fractured pelvic bone before he would be able to put weight on his other hind leg. The surgery was performed and the left hind limb was amputated. The pelvic fracture would have to heal with rest and time.
Pollito could start his amazing journey to a full recovery. The next day he was already acting like nothing happened; eating drinking and willing to play. Rest was however still very important for the pelvic fracture to heal naturally. It took two weeks of cage rest, followed by two weeks with wheel-support for the right hind limb. Finally, in the 5th week after surgery, Pollito could start walking on three legs without any wheel support. An x-ray showed a perfectly healed pelvic bone. That week Pollito was exploring the clinic, meeting other puppies and starting to enjoy live again. Later that week Pollito found a new house with a caring and loving owner. 
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