posted June 28, 2007 10:52 PM         

POSTED: 8:18 pm MDT June 27, 2007
UPDATED: 10:20 pm MDT June 27, 2007

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- A Colorado State University animal surgeon examined a pup rescued from Kuwait on Wednesday to see if it can receive a prosthetic leg using cutting-edge research.

A volunteer with animal welfare group PAWS Kuwait brought Sally, a Saluki, to the PAWS shelter in Kuwait City after spotting her hobbling on three legs in the desert several months ago.

It's unclear how the dog was injured, but CSU surgeon Erick Egger said X-rays Wednesday suggested Sally suffered a fracture in another leg at about the same level as her injured leg, around the same time. Egger estimated Sally is about a year old.

In Kuwait, a veterinarian recommended that Sally's injured back leg, cut off above the ankle joint, be amputated, said PAWS volunteer Steve Holden.

"The veterinarians in Kuwait said we should probably amputate her leg because she was using it and the stump would be rubbed raw," Holden said.

Egger got involved after Holden e-mailed his alma mater CSU and its famed veterinary hospital to ask whether that was sound advice.

Egger said it was but that Sally might make a good candidate for new research on grafting prosthetics to bone. PAWS then decided to fly Sally with Holden to Fort Collins, where the two arrived Tuesday.

While humans typically could be fitted with a prosthetic limb that would be strapped on, dogs don't take to them well. Instead Egger wants to try an "ingrowth" prosthesis.

Egger said one concept involves inserting a metallic implant at the bone, attaching an artificial limb to the implant, then allowing bone to grow around it.

"The real critical part that will make it work or not is whether we can get soft tissues like skin and muscle to grow into the metal that extends into the body," he said.

Sally will then have to learn to walk on the artificial limb.

Egger said Sally is already trying walk on her stump, so he is hopeful she will be responsive to training once she receives the implant.

Veterinarian Robert Taylor in Denver has been working on the concept, which perhaps one day could be transferred to humans, Egger said.

He said it could be a month or two before Sally gets her new leg. He is looking at ways to raise funds to pay for materials, which he estimates could cost about $5,000.

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