The problem for Buckley is that he is one of the hugh chested type labs and his entire chest from just below the neck is gone as well as to the outer edges under his front legs. That is why his chest can't be pulled back together as originally thought. The necrosis just keep spreading and then after the debridement and trimming.............well....
According to our vet, who we have been with for 30 years, a small area could be grafted, but not this large. The plastic surgeon vet she used to work with at the vet school has since retired and she is not familiar with who took his place. She is not really sure we have many options. Small areas of grafting are on thing, but this large is another. We have already spent $1000 so far and don't know how much more we owe our vet right now. Our oldest daughter lost her job 2 months ago and we are having to help her. We just had a roof put on and it ended up costing us $3000 more than we planned, so like so many these days, we are tapped out.
We have had Buckley just shy of 7 years. He has a typical male lab personailty, that is he never has grown up. He does his invisible act, where he thinks if he walks past you and turns his head he is invisible and can sneak out to the kitchen to see what he can scraf up. He loves oatmeal raisin cookies and I can no longer leave them on the stove. He ate 13 of them not to long ago when I left the pack I had got from Publix on the stove. Bread is another favorite of his. He knows place and will creep his way off until his back toe is on place and look at us with, "well, I am still on place." He loves Jasmine and all the cats and plays with them. He lets our chichihua (spelling brain cramp) Chili Pepper, clean his teeth. They usually sleep together. 110 pounds with 7pounds.
Thank you again for your kind thoughts and kind prayers. Pet Talkers are the nicest folks I know. May God's favor shine on all of you. Julie