Loretta is a 2-year-old Terrier mix in Memphis, TN, who needs $2,000 for tibial plateau leveling osteotomy surgery and medial patella luxation repair .

Meet Loretta Sammons....to know her is to love her. Loretta joined our family in December of 2017 as a five month old Humane Society rescue. She was found on the streets of Memphis completely eaten up with mange. When we first saw her, we weren't even sure what kind of dog she was or what she would eventually look like. She was tiny, scared and just starting to grow her fur back. We now know that she is what we affectionately call a "Memphis Street Dog". The one thing we were sure of was that she needed us and we needed her. Loretta fit right in. She's the epitome of a "Good Girl" and we can't imagine our family without her. At about 8 months old, we thought she injured her leg. After a trip to the vet and a set of x-rays, we learned that Loretta has one of the worst cases our vet has ever seen of genetic dysplasia in both hips. In addition to her hips being "toast" her knees were also sliding in and out of stability. Over the course of the last year and a half, we have tried medications, supplements and injections to avoid surgery. At just two years old, she has stopped bearing weight on her right side most of the time. At our last vet appointment, x-rays showed that her lower legs were bowed out, compensating for all of her "specialness" in her hips and knees. We were sent to specialist to find out exactly what kind of hip surgery would be best. We were prepared to pay for a FMO hip surgery. An FHO, or femoral head ostectomy, is a surgical procedure that aims to restore pain-free mobility to a diseased or damaged hip, by removing the head and neck of the femur (the long leg bone or thighbone). To our surprise, we were told that she would need to have a TPLO surgery on both knees before we could even address her hips. TPLO, or tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy, is a surgery performed on dogs to stabilize the stifle joint after ruptures of the cranial cruciate ligament (analogous to the anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] in humans, and sometimes colloquially called the same). The cost per knee is almost $5000.00 . This is where we need your help. Lehman and I have good jobs, but $5,000-$10,000 is not something we can come up with anytime soon. We will do what we have to do to make this happen for our "Good Girl", but any help along the way would be most appreciated. I know some people see her as "just a dog", but to our family, she is so much more. She is friend, companion, snuggle buddy, guardian and fur baby. She loves the park and swimming and we want to make sure her future is filled with doing the things she loves. She's only two!! If your heart strings are pulled by helping animals in need and this is a cause that you can get behind, we would forever be grateful. Please feel free to share this with other like minded friends.
With gratitude,
Lehman, Tracy, Wiley and Caelum