09/21/2026
We come to you with a good news/bad news day.
Let's start with the good news, because we all need a Win on a Monday.
Otis is peeing and coming home!
Our update from Dr Wilbers on Thursday was not good. They had drained his bladder again and it was still the same amount removed. The only positive was that bloodwork showed his kidneys were working.
We discussed throwing everything at it, including keeping him on his existing Flomax, prazosin and ammonium chloride, adding in a muscle relaxer and bethanecol (and if all that failed, even the kitchen sink). And by this morning, it worked and he's peeing!
It's not a long flow, but it's a steady, frequent flow. And his urine doesn't smell as terrible! So we're making plans to go get him.
He will stay on all his meds for good this time. We're going to treat it like "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."
So now the bad news.
We've been holding out on sharing this, because we were hoping to make the announcement as a success story.
Last Friday, Nancy went to New Bolton Center for surgery to help her regain the ability to use the front leg that was broken when her previous owners didn't do anything to help her after their dogs attacked her.
At only 4 years old, the damage from the injury was severely diminishing her quality of life. Even though she was always in good spirits and happy to see people, and we were trying to manage her pain, she barely moved more than 20 ft from her house, and the long term use of her only good front leg was already permanently altering and damaging her good limb. She was looking at a very short, good life.
So for the last few months, we've been doing imagining and having conversations with her surgeons, and everyone felt very confident in the surgery being a success.
And it was!
Friday afternoon, her doctor called us to tell us that everything went exactly as planned: they were able to chisel out the calcified broken elbow, cut the bone, and repositioned her leg forward with plates and screws. The goal was to allow her to be able to use the leg, even if it was just to be able to put some weight on it and take some pressure off her good leg.
On Saturday, she was still guarding her leg, but they expected that, and she was otherwise doing well.
We didn't hear an update on Sunday.
And then this morning her surgeon called us to tell us that she had fractured her femur right before they were scheduled to do her followup imaging today. 😭
The surgeon said her physical therapy was going well, and she was starting to gently put weight on it. They think that just because she hadn't used that leg for so long, the bone had weakened, and even that little bit was too much.
We discussed what to do now, and the best option for her to still have success is to undergo another procedure and have a nail placed inside her femur where the break is, to hold it together. It's the same procedure they do for humans.
As of now, this is scheduled for tomorrow.
Village, we could use some help.
We could use some good vibes and prayers sent to our Nancy. She deserves so much after her previous humans failed her.
We could use some help with these unexpected expenses too.
While we had planned and budgeted for Nancy's original surgery, we had not counted on another surgery right away, or for Otis's emergency to happen at the same time.
If you feel so inclined to help:
Venmo: ShortNCurliesRescue
Cashapp: ShortCurliesRescue
PayPal: [email protected]
Or you can call directly to Quakertown Veterinary Clinic (for Otis from Short & Curlies Animal Rescue) at 215-536-2726
Or
PennVet at New Bolton Center (for Nancy the Pig for Short & Curlies Animal Rescue) at 610-444-5800
Thank you for always being there and loving our pigs the way we do. ❤️
