Charlie

About the Campaign

Charlie is an 8-year-old female rescue dog with a torn ligament in her left knee, often called an ACL tear in people and a CCL tear in dogs. She is not putting weight on the leg, is on pain medication, and is mostly lying down now because walking hurts. Her family is planning a less expensive knee repair instead of TPLO, because Charlie had that procedure on her other leg before and it worked well for her.

Joel first noticed Charlie limping a couple of weeks ago. At first, he thought maybe she had just played too hard in the backyard. But then on Monday, she went out for water and suddenly cried out loudly. After that, she held the leg up and would not use it normally. The injury has taken an active, agile dog and left her stuck resting in pain.

Charlie has already been through this once before. About a year and a half ago, she tore the ligament in her other knee and had surgery. Joel had been warned that the second leg might eventually tear too, which is unfortunately common when one knee has already failed. Now that it has happened, Charlie needs help getting the left knee repaired so she can stand, walk, and move comfortably again.

Charlie came into Joel’s family when she was about 6 months old. Another family they knew had her, but the father developed cancer and had to travel to Los Angeles for treatment. Charlie was being left alone in the yard for days at a time, and the family was going to take her to the pound. Joel and his family already had a dog, but they knew no one else was stepping up, so they decided to do the right thing and bring Charlie home.

Though Joel was able to pay for the previous knee surgery, this time things are different. Joel recently lost his job as a director of project development for a renewable energy company and is currently on unemployment while looking for work. This surgery came right when the family has the least room to absorb a major expense.

Charlie was rescued once when she had nowhere to go. Now she needs help again. Donations will help cover Charlie’s knee surgery, pain medication, follow-up care, and related veterinary treatment so she can get back on her feet. All donations are paid only to the veterinarian. Estimate below, click to enlarge: