Uni is Walking Proud, Ready to Exercise Her Second Chance

Picasso Veterinary Fund in Action! (June 2010)

At seven months of age, Uni ("the only one") immigrated from Japan to the U.S. with her family. They settled in Manhattan with hopes of a bright future together. But unfortunately, life had other plans for them.

The small apartment that became their home soon proved to provide inadequate space for the 100-pound Tosa Inu Mastiff puppy to roam freely. So Uni was relegated to a crate most of each day — a crate not large enough for her to get comfortable. But her two walks and two feedings a day provided Uni with some relief. That is, until her family decided that caring for her was too much work, and they turned her over to the care of Animal Care & Control of NYC's Manhattan shelter.

Uni arrived at the shelter with double cherry eyes — not a life-threatening condition, but one that deterred adopters from stopping for long outside her cage. She soon became withdrawn and depressed.

When Linda Vetrano of Posh Pets Rescue, an Alliance Participating Organization (APO) and New Hope Partner, arrived at the shelter one day, making her usual rounds looking for animals to take out of the shelter and get ready for adoption, she noticed Uni out of the corner of her eye — thinking at first that she spied a pony! Linda knelt down and began stroking Uni, recognizing that this scared and gentle giant needed to get out of the shelter right away. She led Uni out of the kennel and down the hallway to take her outside. Before long Uni was kissing and licking Linda's face — as if to thank her for taking her for a walk. Little did Uni know that Linda was taking her on a walk that would change her life.

Peg, a Posh Pets Rescue foster volunteer, opened her home to Uni, and Posh Pets paid for the multiple surgeries to correct her eye condition. Dr. Giangola of the Animal Health Center in Manhattan performed the surgeries.

But then Uni began to favor one of her legs, and her gait was a bit off, and so Posh Pets Rescue arranged for Uni to see the vet again. X-rays confirmed that Uni suffered from a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in her knee and also double hip dysplasia. One of her hips was 90 percent out of its socket, and the other was totally out of the socket. The vet warned Linda that without surgical intervention, Uni would not live to see her fourth birthday. "She was much too big to carry her weight on her hip joints. And because she was not properly developed from being crated most of her youth, she didn't have the muscles to support her frame," explains Linda.

Having already invested quite a bit of time and money in Uni's future, Linda asked the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals for assistance from the Picasso Veterinary Fund to help pay the cost of Uni's critical hip and knee surgery. The Mayor's Alliance agreed, and Dr. Dominic J. Marino at Long Island Veterinary Specialists performed the surgeries.

Today, Uni is recovering nicely, and is ready to entertain potential adopters. Just last week she appeared on the NBC adoption segment, "Maria's Pet Project" on LX New York. "She is doing very well since her operation, and we feel she is on the road to a full and healthy life," says Linda.

Without the Picasso Veterinary Fund, Uni might not have had the opportunity to get the surgery she needed to make her whole. But thanks to the fund, and to the caring determination of Linda and Posh Pets Rescue, Uni has a second chance at the good life she so richly deserves.

Are you ready to take on 120 pounds of pure love and adopt Uni? If you are, then contact Posh Pets Rescue at MsLondonspets@aol.com.

But there's another way you can help, too. Give a generous donation to the Picasso Veterinary Fund, and help us provide more second chances to more dogs and cats who, like Uni, needed a bit of extra help to get back in the running. Your generosity will help us save more lives and create happy endings that otherwise wouldn't be possible.