Special needs -

Cheveyo came to Pet Haven from Red Lake Rosie's Rescue in March of 2011. He is 2.5 years old now.

Chevy was found at a garbage dump. His ears had frostbite damage and he lost the tips of them. He had scabs and scaring on his back legs as if he had been caught is some sort of animal trap - probably a snare - but he had escaped or someone found him and let him loose.

It seemed Chevy had found good fortune. He became a wonderful indoor fellow who enjoys games of rough and tumble chase with the other cats in his foster home. He gets along with the 2 medium sized dogs there. He loves his foster family too and comes for lap time, enjoys his toys and the windows he can watch the wildlife from. Sunny windows, people to love him, other cats to play with - life is good.

One day recently he did not come for breakfast. This is most unusual as Chevy loves to eat! He was found hiding under the dresser in a bedroom. When drawn out he could not bear weight on a rear leg, was obviously in pain and could only be coaxed to eat a little food. A trip to the vet was in order.

Chevy needed to be sedated to have x rays since he would not allow the vet to straighten out his leg and exam his hip joint. Radiographs confirmed that he had sheared off a portion of the ball of the femur. This loose piece and the rough edge no longer fit smoothly into the hip socket and painfully rubbed muscle and bone. No wonder he wouldn't walk! Soon he had pain meds to keep him more comfortable.

He was scheduled for surgery on a Wed. and was back with his foster family later Thursday. Chevy had the ball of the femur removed as well as some of the femur to shorten this bone so it would not rub into the socket in the pelvis and cause further pain. Once his muscles are fully strengthened he will walk and jump with only the smallest limp! It isn't know why something like this happens, for some reason the blood flow to the bone may have been cut off and the bone did not grow as strong as it should have.

Pet Haven has a Special Needs fund. We take in cats and dogs with no knowledge of their previous care. Some need to have all of their teeth extracted because of infection in the roots and gum disease. Some have broken bones, others have parvo or panleukopenia. A few, like Chevy, need to have femoral head and neck surgery because they were dropped from a balcony or jumped and landed wrong.

All of these procedures are ones that we have a responsibility to resolve to provide the best quality of life we can. We are able to do this only because we have generous donors, like you. If you are able to make a donation to help cover the cost of Cheveyo's surgery it will help us to offer this much needed care to him and others like him.

You can click here to make a donation on line from our website or can send a check to our mailing address:

Pet Haven, Inc. of Minnesota

PO Box 19105

Minneapolis MN 55419

Earmark it to Special Needs, to Chevy, or to other causes such as spay and neuter. We appreciate donations in any amount, small or large! Can't make a monetary donation right now? Think about volunteering for us or another group, hold a garage sale when it is that time of the year, like to scrapbook? make and sell cards to others.

Chevy says Thank you!

Look for further updates on Chevy as his healing progresses!