Zoe is a 8-year-old Yorkshire Terrier in Dallas, TX, who needs $2,000 for surgery.

One of our local shelters found Zoe wandering the streets…no tags and not chipped. Animal control noticed she was in VERY bad shape, was filthy, had extremely overgrown nails and was walking strangely. They had x-rays taken and discovered both front paws were disconnected at the wrist! Also, Zoe was suffering from severe periodontal disease. She was a hot mess!

This poor dog sat in that condition for 10 days. Naturally, the owner never came forward, and thank goodness they didn’t because the shelter was prepared to cite them for animal cruelty! On day 10, we snatched her up and immediately took her to our vet, who confirmed the front paws were not connected and deemed her “an orthopedic nightmare!” She was also diagnosed with mammary cancer.

Our plan will involve two separate surgeries. One to remove both mammary chains, extract the “nodule” in her trachea area and biopsy it, spay her and address her periodontal disease. The second surgery, depending on the pathology of the nodule, will be the Laryngeal tieback.

During the examination, the specialist determined there was some type of swelling or lump in her larynx area and deemed that to be most likely the source of the labored breathing. He recommended a biopsy be done and he also suggested a surgery called a Laryngeal tieback.

Zoe was not spayed. We ran blood work, which came back normal, so we started her on pain meds. Our orthopedist said Zoe’s paw issue was really a bone issue and it was due to a degenerative disease common in Yorkies and there was most likely nothing that could be done to fix it. He was, however, quite concerned about Zoe’s breathing and wanted to get her in for some exploratory surgery ASAP.