Belle arrived yesterday by chauffeured minivan from Derby Lane in St Petersburg, Florida, the oldest track in the US. There was a kennel fire at Derby Lane a couple of months ago, and James Campbell, the kennel owner / trainer, rushed into the fire and saved all 46 of his dogs. Belle was one of them.
Belle was scheduled to be adopted out - she never raced - until a spider bite (!) almost got her put down. But the Naples / Fort Myers chapter of Greyhound Pets of America stopped that. Belle was treated for the spider bite and recovered - then got an infected cuticle that, again, almost delayed her departure.
But we wanted to adopt Belle, and no one else. To us, she is one in a million. (To the Greyhound racing industry, she is one of a million.)
So when Belle arrived and we saw how bad her toe actually looked - and that she was hopping around on three legs - we took her to our local Greyhound vet, Dr George Abernathy of Sunrise Veterinary Clinic.
Today he removed the infected nail - but, fortunately, did not have to remove the toe. We'll change the dressing tomorrow, then , in two weeks, remove her sutures. Then - watch out! Belle is awfully fast on three legs - we can hardly wait to see her race Henry (her big brother) on all four!
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