Meet Samantha

Samantha or “Sam” was a patient at Dr. E’s clinic who suffered from HOD (hypertrophic osteodystrophy) as a puppy.  Her joints were so swollen and painful that she couldn’t even squat to pee, much less walk very far. 

As John was visiting the clinic one day he introduced himself to Sam by sitting on the floor near her. Sam beelined across the floor by scooting herself sideways to lay her head in his lap and give him those big ol’ lovey eyes. Dr. E and John said right then and there that they would take her if the owner couldn’t help her.  Samantha came home with them shortly after.

Sam was able to make a full recovery from the HOD with a lot of TLC, but being a very active boxer, she suffered a very common injury known as a ruptured CCL (cranial cruciate ligament) around 1.5 years of age. She underwent a TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) surgery to correct the problem in the stifle (knee) joint. Unfortunately, 6 months later she suffered the same injury in her other stifle and had to have another TPLO.  Sam was recovering fairly well with just leash walking and range of motion exercises, but she suffered yet another injury once she was off restriction. This time it was a torn meniscus that required a 3rd knee surgery to correct. 

This time during the recovery period was much harder and she wasn’t able to really keep up, and if she tried to we were constantly worrying about her hurting herself. We decided to try something different this time and consulted with another local veterinarian who specializes in physical rehabilitation. Thankfully, with the help of a specific exercise program, which included a few miles on the underwater treadmill for low impact conditioning, Sam was able to regain most of her original functionality in her hind legs.

Sam crossed the Rainbow Bridge in April of 2021. We will be forever grateful for her impact on our family and the inspiration she gave us to create this business. Sam will always be at the heart of ACE of Paws.