Feb 7, 2004 

Spidey was an owner surrender from a suspected back yard breeder (BYB).  A BYB by definition is someone who breeds entirely for the money and not for the betterment of the breed. Many BYB’s don’t provide medical care. This breeder didn’t understand why when she bred one specific male to one specific female she always got deformed Pugs. A reputable breeder would know why and wouldn’t mate these pugs.  He was picked up in PA from another rescue Angel from his breeder.  Spidey was a tad luckier than most Pugs coming from a BYB, instead of being kept in a wire bunny cage, he was kept in a 15-foot room with several other Pugs but very little human contact.  When he was delivered, he hopped like a bunny, sat like a gopher and whimpered in constant pain.  He could only manage to hop around a few steps.   A very happy 2-year-old Pug boy, full of personality and joy.  He seemed to have difficulty breathing but has a huge capacity to love and trust humans. It is amazing considering that a human let him stay in this condition for two years.  Spidey traveled from PA to NJ where his long journey to his forever momma began and finally settled in her loving arms in MA in the evening.  Being a Vet Tech, Spidey’s mom recognized her new baby was in a great deal of pain and took her baby to an emergency care facility to get him at least out of pain until a more detailed exam could be accomplished.  This initial exam disclosed:  He is badly deformed in his elbow/shoulder/leg/hip area as well as little muscle tone and in his back legs. He is Lyme positive, has a UTI, parasites and a broken molar that is infected. It is not known the extent of his orthopedic situation, if he was born this way or if it was neglect and confinement while his growth plates were forming or some trauma. He be sedated him tomorrow to get a full set of orthopedic x-rays for the surgeon to review and give the necessary information.  A Neurologist may need to be involved also because he is not neurologically normal in his back end. He does not correct his toe placement, as if he does not feel that it's wrong. The x-rays revealed some consolidation in his spinal cord; so more info is needed in this area also.  It's very hard to access his heart because of the difficulty breathing. The physician’s will get a better listen when he's sedated. His chest x-rays do show some changes in the lung fields in front of the heart, so we'll have to see.  Spidey is now in a loving home getting evaluated and necessary treatments to repair what can be repaired.  Spidey is such a wonderful, special soul that is craving love for once in his life. 

Feb 11 Update 

It's been a long couple of days for Spidey. He went for an Echo/Ultrasound yesterday. His heart is good and his poor breathing is all upper airway, the worst case of overgrown palate known to man.  His bladder has no stones but he prostititis. We sedated him today and did a dental (removed several teeth), neutered him and took all sorts of x-rays. He has the worst hips I have ever seem in 13 years as a Technician. I do not know how he is even walking. And if that's not bad enough, his elbows are even worse! His deformed front leg looks like a prior fracture that was never dealt with, but on a good note his knees are good. An Orthopedist is coming Tuesday to evaluate him and let me know where to start surgically. He'll need both hips totally replaced and I don't know if anything can be done about those elbows. We trimmed his soft palate back today, but the other surgeon might be able to do more at a later date. At least I wanted to lessen the struggle to breath for now. His spine is questionable also; there are a lot of arthritic areas and some questions about degeneration changes. We're on the road but it's going to be a long haul for him. I'll know all about options. Till then I just keep up with the current treatments and keep him comfy and loved. 

Feb 17 Update  

Spidey met with the orthopedic surgeon this morning. Well, it was some encouraging news and some very realistic news. First off, he feels that Spidey's growth plates formed and closed defectively.  It seems to have hit the hardest in his elbows, femoral heads and spinal cord. We can't do anything about his elbows. His left is luxated completely sideways and the right isn't much better. There isn't anything to do with them but try to take the weight off of his front by replacing both hips. That will enable him to bear weight on his hips again and give his elbows some relief. He can have both hips replaced within 2-3 months of each other, depending on healing time. The surgeon feels that there is significant damage done to his spine that will only get worse over time, we just don't know how long. There is restriction of the vertebra and unstable areas, so that is very questionable right now. The only hope of him breathing with ease is if he has some overgrown "sacules" (glands) that we can remove. His problem isn't laryngeal and we already trimmed his soft palate, it's a restriction of his esophagus. He is not "struggling" for breath since his last surgery, so he's comfortable for now. The restriction could get worse in the future though.

Well, there it is, we can fix the hips and maybe help some with the breathing but that's about it. It pains me to know we can't fix his elbows and the unknown about his spine. I know they must be a source of discomfort for him. I feel in my heart that I should go ahead with the hips and give his elbows some help, keep him on lifelong pain relief and just let him live his life and see how long we can be blessed with him. He is so happy here; he plays and is attached to me at the hip! He stresses when I'm not around for too long and he just wants to be a normal Pug.

If you are interested in donating to Spidey’s care. Donations can be sent to:

Dr.'s Douglas Meade & Heidi Tapscott
Burlington Veterinary Hospital
64 Middlesex Turnpike
Burlington, MA  01803

Please put Spidey’s name in the “memo” or “for” field of the check or money order.

Thank you in advance for reading Spidey’s story and donating towards his extensive care and treatments. You are Pug Angels.

3/31/04

Ourdear Spidey went over the Rainbow Bridge today. He was recovering on schedule from his first hip surgery about 2 weeks ago, until today. Stephanie, his pugmom, noticed he was not using the leg as much today.  She heard a "clicking" sound so Steph  brought him to the vet for an evaluation. The surgeon that worked on him came to evaluate him and did x-rays.  Much to our utter dismay, the x-rays revealed  that his femur on the surgical leg had broken in half. When his hip surgery was done, they sent a piece of bone for analysis and the finding were a rare congenital bone disease that basically deforms all the joints and weakens the bones. The board certified Orth surgeon had only seen it in journals, never in person, it was that rare. We knew that was devastating news but still hoped he could heal. I guess he could not keep that big of a fight going any longer. When we found that the leg had broken we also noticed that his other leg also weakened so much from the disease that amputation was not an option because the other leg would never be able to hold the weight. We had no choice but to put his brave soul to rest. All of our heart ache, especially Stephanie and her family for all that Spidey will not experience in a loving world. We ache for all those that he touched with his wise, selfless ways. Stephanie aches for her  own heart and those of her children as well as all those puppies born from Spidey from this irresponsible breeder. We know there are other suffering Pugs from having bred him...It's just not fair. Stephanie will never forget her very dear friend who showed her more love and strength than she's every received  in years of working with animals. Stephanie and everyone at PPRA would like to thank all who cared for him and made donations to our organization to help offset the cost of his medical care.  We  want you to know that he did feel your love and support........We love you Spidey....We know you are "pain free" now that you are at Rainbow Bridge.....