Nature Knows: Smart Ideas

Miniature horse unable to use hind legs gets wheelchair and runs for first time

Being free to move as you please is a feeling that is simply priceless. But Turbo, a 3-month-old mini horse, never understood what that was like until the folks at Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary gave him a sweet new set of wheels.

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Turbo was born with a congenital defect, two luxating patellae, which left him with very limited mobility in his back two legs.

This caused the sweet mini horse to walk in a hunched manner forcing all of his weight on his front legs.

Turbo’s owners contacted Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary (R2RAS) of North Haven, Connecticut for help.

The non-profit organization was started by Megan Pereira who got tired of seeing so many farm animals euthanized while working as an animal vet tech. Her sanctuary gives them a place where they could live out their days.

“I lean towards the special needs ones, the broken ones, the really medical intensive cases,” Megan told Walkin’ Pets.

Megan had helped out a goat named Peaches who got around with a wheelchair, so she figured she could help Turbo and took him in.

After learning about Turbo’s story, the New Hampshire-based Walkin’ Pets mobility company decided to donate a wheelchair for Turbo.

Turbo wasn’t even strapped in before he took off running before they even had him fully strapped into his new wheelchair.

“Seeing Turbo ‘walk’ before any assistance and dragging his legs, to being in his cart – I almost started crying. I am not a crier, but I almost started crying. He was running, bucking – it was all very exciting,” said Megan.

He has an entirely different spirit about him when he’s moving along in that wheelchair. It’s a definite spirit of joy. Megan hopes that Turbo’s story will encourage others to rescue animals with special needs.

“It’s definitely a road worth traveling – they really make a special place in your heart,” Megan said. But Turbo needed more help than he could get from a wheelchair. The mini horse, who Megan refers to as her “unicorn,” also needed surgery on his legs.

“My sweet little unicorn is out of surgery. He had surgery yesterday on his first leg, and today he had his second leg done & is doing very well post-op. As always, with any surgery, there is a risk of post-op complications. He is nowhere out of the woods yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic!” she wrote on Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary’s Facebook page.

The non-profit is hoping that people will donate to help cover the costs of his surgery. Donations can be made here and will go toward funding Turbos’s surgery and helping the other animals at Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary.

The sanctuary, which rests on 10 acres of land, has so far rescued 70 animals since 2020. Learn more about Road to Refuge Animal Sanctuary here.

Watch Turbo take his first happy steps in his wheelchair in the video below.

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Animals

Cat with 4 frostbitten paws gets new feet made of titanium

A female cat in Russia that lost all four of her paws to frostbite can walk, run and even climb stairs again, thanks to the veterinarians who replaced her missing limbs with 3D-printed prosthetics made from titanium.

The hardy gray feline, named Dymka (“mist” in Russian), is about 4 years old. A passing driver found her in December 2018 in the snow in Novokuznetsk in Siberia and brought her to a clinic in Novosibirsk, according to Russian news site Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Dymka was suffering from frostbite of her paws, ears and tail — so much so that veterinarian Sergei Gorshkov had to amputate those damaged extremities, The Moscow Times reported.

During the punishing Siberian winters, veterinarians at the Novosibirsk clinic typically treat at least five to seven cats due to frostbite in their paws, ears and noses, Gorshkov told The Moscow Times. Frostbite develops when cold temperatures freeze skin and tissue, particularly in extremities.

In severe cases, the tissue dies and requires amputation. Gorshkov and his colleagues at the clinic collaborated with researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) in Tomsk, Russia, to create a set of prosthetics for Dymka.

The scientists developed and applied a coating made of calcium phosphate to help mount the titanium implants that were inserted and fused into her leg bones, and to minimize the risk of infection and implant rejection, TPU representatives said in a statement.

Researchers used computerized tomography (CT) X-ray scans of Dymka’s legs to model and then 3D print the titanium rods. Dymka received her prosthetic implants in July 2019 — first in her front legs and then in her hind legs, Novosibirsk News reported.

In a video shared to YouTube by the veterinary clinic on Dec. 10, 2019 — seven months after Dymka’s new paws were attached — she was enjoying a wake-up stretch, walking around an examination room and playing with a fringe on a blanket.

A close-up showed where the titanium rods joined to her legs, ending in “feet” made of flexible black material with textured bottoms.

Dymka is now the second cat in the world to have received four metal prosthetics.

In 2016, the Novosibirsk clinic performed a similar procedure, mounting titanium implants on a male cat named Ryzhik (“Red” in Russian), who also required a quadruple amputation of his frostbitten feet, according to The Moscow Times.
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Animals

Wild horse gives rescuer kiss after being freed from chains

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Animals

A kind man put a stool next to the fence so his Lab could meet the neighbors’ dogs that are his best friends without obstacles

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Animals

Veteran knowingly breaks the law to rescue overheated puppy locked in hot car

It’s never easy to do anything when it’s searing hot and humid as hell. Not everyone’s got air-conditioning to keep themselves cool when things get hot.

Most of us have to settle for simple electric fans and shorts. Now imagine living in this heat with a full coat of fur. Yeah, not so easy, is it?

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Our four-legged, furry companions are the most vulnerable of us during summer. All they can do is pant and drink water to keep cool.

It’s not hard to see why we’re always told not to keep them inside cars when it’s hot. Well, it seems like we’ve got to remind people some more.

Facebook - Jason Minson Virginia resident Jason Minson happened to walk by one very hot car one workday, with a very scared and hot dog inside.

It wasn’t clear how long the owner was gone, or when they were coming back.

Facebook - Jason Minson
What was clear was that the dog had been in there way too long. Judging from its panting and frantic pacing. Jason is an Army veteran, and his day job is that of a landscaper. His workdays usually aren’t this tense or interesting.

In fact, he’d only found out about the dog in the car after another car almost collided with them. He went over to check and was treated to the sight of this dog panting for its life.

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He called 911 for help and was told that the police were on the way to help out. Hopefully, that wouldn’t take too long. But with each passing minute, the dog seemed to have a harder and harder time.

It was like a timer was counting down, and Jason couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. He gave the dog some water, which might have helped it a bit. It drank down every last bit of the water. Then Jason gave it another bottle, and the dog drank it up like it didn’t just have a whole bottle prior.

This was a very thirsty – and very, very hot dog. Help wasn’t here yet, and the dog’s condition didn’t seem to get any better. It seemed like water only delayed the worst rather than prevented it, and something had to be done.

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The police told Jason not to break open the car windows. He had little to disagree with originally, but that was several long minutes ago.

After learning that the dog was heavily dehydrated and not wanting to wait any longer, he finally gave in and smashed the window open.

The dog was out, and Jason could relax a bit. Sure, smashing open car windows isn’t usually a stress-reliever, but a life was on the line here.

Facebook - Jason Minson He could take a breather now. Well, he made the right move as it turned out. The law makes a pretty clear case about breaking open car windows to save distressed animals inside.

This meant Jason wasn’t to be charged with any crimes. The same couldn’t be said for the owner of the car and dog who left that poor pooch in there. As for the dog, it was treated at a veterinary hospital.

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Needless to say, it wasn’t going back to its previous owner. Never leave your pets inside the car when it’s hot!

That coat of fur is a lot hotter than it looks, and panting only does so much. Don’t wait for someone to come and smash your car window while you’re gone. In the meantime, give this article a share and let people know how to treat animals responsibly in the heat.
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