Polly

Update:03/11/10

Recovering  well from her knee surgery and ready to find her forever home!

That is the good news about Miss Polly. Now that she has the go-ahead, she is really enjoying her walks—and she has posted a small weight loss, down to 106 pounds. Still over 20 pounds to shed, but at least the scale is moving in the right direction. Unfortunately Polly is not quite as willing a participant in the weight-loss game as we would like: we have learned to be careful not to leave any human food on the coffee table, since she sees that as free game! (On the other hand, she does not beg for food when you are eating, which is very nice.)

Over all, she is doing wonderfully. She is more alert and alive than ever and remains the perfect houseguest—totally trustworthy when left loose in the house. She really enjoys having company and socializes very nicely, but makes sure everyone knows she is there—she is very outgoing and just darn right happy. (:  She does not demand a ton of attention but sure does appreciate it when you rub her belly and give her kisses!

Update:02/14/10

Rah! Polly had her surgery right on schedule and is doing well with her recovery. She’s off all her pain meds and slowly starting to test out her new “bionic” leg. She goes for her staple removal on 2/16.  She’s a sweet girl – personality is already A-plus, so she just needs  to complete her rehab and then we’ll work on getting rid of all that excess poundage. We know Polly will be very happy to oblige on that front; she already wants you to throw the ball for her.  We can’t do that just yet, of course, so she’s having to settle for just rolling the  ball around on the floor in front of her.  Will she be happy when she can go pelting off for a good game of fetch!

Polly enjoys snoozing on the couch and sleeps well right through the night. During the day, she’s an outdoorsy girl who likes to sit out in the yard and watch he  world go by. We finally figured out that she responds to a whistle better than to “Polly, come!” -- whistling gets her attention.

Next report coming very soon, after her doctor’s appointment this week!

Meet Polly… who gets almost straight “P”s (for “perfect,” of course) on her foster report card:

* Personality: Perfect! This calm and lovely girl is happy, friendly, and mellow. She’s sunshine in fur. She has a big personality and a big heart.

* House-training: Perfect! Never an accident.

* Portrait-ready: Perfect! Very loving face and eyes. Wags her tail with the best of them.

* Tennis-ball rolling skills: Perfect! A champ at rolling her tennis ball under the furniture and then instructing her humans to get it back out again. (:

But…

* Weight: Well…. Miss Polly also gets a “P” for her weight, but in this case it stands for “plump” – VERY plump, to the tune of 110 pounds. And that leads us to:

* Right knee: Not perfect at all.  Polly badly injured her knee—the dreaded ACL tear— about a month ago; her 30-pound excess may have had something to do with it. Her original family could not afford the surgery needed to repair the damage, but they couldn’t let their girl go on living in pain, so they contacted GRR for help. When she arrived in care, we found that her ears were badly infected, too. Ow! She started getting treatment for that right away.

We were concerned that Polly may have to wait on her surgery until she’d lost some weight, but she met the doctor on January 20, and he says let’s get the knee fixed now! The date is already set: February 3. He commented that there was some scarring, and that the injury has been progressing towards a full tear. He recommends an ACL graft; the cost to GRR will be about $1,200. 

Luckily, Polly’s foster family has plenty of experience with rehab after knee surgery. A few months from now, we’re confident  that Polly will be getting “perfect” marks in everything—and she’ll be able to join her family in all the activities she’d love to do now if she could: going for walks, playing chase, and actually running after those fascinating tennis balls!

Watch this space for updates on Polly’s Progress.

Adoption Procedures