MEDIA ADVISORY: Colorado State University successfully implants prosthesis in Sally, the Saluki from Kuwait

Note to Editors: RSVPs are required. Please contact Dell Rae Moellenberg by 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 16, at 970-491-6009 or dellrae.moellenberg@colostate.edu.

WHAT: Sally, a previously severely injured dog from Kuwait who was adopted by a Colorado State University orthopedic veterinarian, will show off her new back leg. Sally has undergone a series of surgeries to be fitted with a titanium metal implant into her bone for attachment of an external artificial limb.  

WHEN/WHERE: 11:15 a.m. Thursday, July 17, at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Room 120 in the Animal Cancer Center. Television and video crews are asked to arrive at 11:15 a.m. for set-up. Sally will arrive at 11:30 a.m.

DETAILS: Sally, a Saluki (the royal dog breed in Kuwait), was found wandering in the Kuwait desert with a severely injured leg. One of her feet was missing and may have been cut or trapped off.

She was rescued and flown to Colorado on June 26, 2007, and was examined at the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She was seen by Dr. Erick Egger, a veterinary orthopedic surgeon, who adopted her immediately. As an orthopedic expert, Dr. Egger began to consider Sally as a potential candidate for a new kind of veterinary metallic prosthetic that is fused directly into the end of her bone through the stump end. This approach to prosthetic treatments should work much better in animals than prosthetics that are strapped on because animals tend to chew on the straps and the prosthetics don’t stay in place well given the animal’s activities.  The new kind of prosthetic will avoid problems with skin irritation and wear sores typical of "socket" devices and minimize aftercare. The bone attachment also gives better "feed back" of foot location and consequently improves functional limb use.

Sally will demonstrate the success of her new, permanent implant, which was designed and built by a company in Switzerland and surgically implanted at Colorado State’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital in June.

A number of procedures to encourage her injured bone to heal, along with significant healing time for her original wounds, were required before Sally was able to undergo surgery to receive the implant. The bone and soft tissues are healing well, and Sally is becoming familiar with walking on her leg again. The implantation technique, implant design and external artificial limb are novel approaches that will provide her functional limb use and movement through a hinged artificial ankle and foot.

RSVPs are required. Please contact Dell Rae Moellenberg by 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 16, at 970-491-6009 or dellrae.moellenberg@colostate.edu.

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