17 months old Marnie was turned in to the shelter because her family could not afford her health care. Here is her Foster family write up about her.

It took a week or two for Marnie to settle in, she cried a lot at first and we weren’t sure if it was the Hip Dysplasia (HD) which was causing her pain, her front leg (clearly another problem but as yet undiagnosed) or her teeth (some are broken, some are missing) that was causing most of the pain. Her HD causes her so much pain that she got in the habit of chewing on stones to deal with it, hence the dental issues.

Marnie’s HD was first diagnosed when she was 8 mo but she had been on pain medications since she was 4 mo so there had been problems from a very young age. It is not clear to us why her HD was not diagnosed earlier, clearly something was terribly wrong as she has been on medications her entire life, Marnie is now 17 mo. Our next step on her road to recovery is an appointment on 7/23/14 for x-rays and a full assessment of her medical issues at the Vet School in Raleigh NC so we will know after that visit how we can best help her.

Marnie is an absolute angel. She is playful with everyone (man and beast), funny (she goes to the fridge and barks until I give her a yoghurt – who’s trained who?) and is definitely still a puppy at heart as she still chews on anything she can get her jaws round so we watch her carefully to make sure we have no unforeseen additional surprises at the vet’s office!

Marnie deserves all the support we can give her. She is the biggest "Lovebug" I have ever met. She has the most wonderful Leo temperament, there isn’t a mean bone in her body and it amazes us all how she has lived with chronic pain all her young life but still remains happy, trusting, playful and full of life. She certainly puts a smile on the face of anyone she meets and brightens their day. What more could anyone ask!