It's a gift not many animals receive, a prosthetic leg.
Jolee, a 5-month-old Chihuahua/Pug mix was rescued from a shelter by Nicholas Pet Haven and immediately had part of her leg amputated back in January.
Fishing line was wrapped so tightly around it, Veterinarian, Dr. Spence had no other choice.
Just one day after the surgery, doctors from Prosthetic-Orthotic Associates of East Texas were at the vet clinic examining the puppy to see if they could build her a prosthetic leg.
"I saw her on their Facebook page that they had just amputated her and they were looking to do a prosthesis." Kissy Stanley, who works for Prosthetic-Orthotic Associates said.
Prosthetic-Orthotic Associates normally work with people but when they saw Jolee they knew they had to help.
The business will be donating the leg at no cost to the animal rescue or to whoever adopts her.
Thursday morning, doctors took scans of Jolee's leg and then a casting.
They start with a stockinette. From there, they wrap synthetic casting material around her leg, also referred to as fiberglass casting.
This type of material is used for fractures as well.
Dr. Bruce McClellan, gently pushing on the casting material says the material will set very quickly, and then they will make a model of the casting.
"We will fill this with plaster and then we will have a plaster model of Jolee's leg from which we'll work." Dr. McClellan said.
One of the biggest challenges they face is accommodating her growth and the correct length and angles.
From the leg model, they will then work to create a test socket.
"We will do a test socket, or a trial fit of the socket and based on that we'll either do a second test socket or we'll try to figure the angles off that to get the length." He said.
The entire process will take a few weeks from start to finish, but at the end of this Jolee will have a new leg, and hopefully a new family as well.
To put in an application to adopt Jolee of another animal from Nicholas Pet Haven click here.
