10/17/2023
Welcome to Tesla and Opus: Off Leash! I am Mam and I want to tell you an important story! Tesla doesn't have horrible teeth. Tesla isn't ancient. She didn't get in a fight with a cat and lose her eye... for some reason, no one wants to ask, "what happened?"
When Tesla was around 9 months old, she chewed an electrical cord. The electricity nearly killed her. Her family tried to take a conservative approach, because that is what they could afford, but it wasn't enough. They were going to euthanize (which is a merciful decision), but the vet office manager knew of Diamond Dachshund Rescue. DDRTX took Tesla in and directly into surgery. She lost a lot of necrotic tissue around her mouth and tongue, the enamel on her teeth puffed up like popcorn, and they removed her right eye-- which was, for lack of a better description: blown up. Her jaw was broken from the surge so she has bone grafts on both sides. They had to sew her tongue into a right angle due to the damage, and the hole in the roof of her mouth has been operated on several times since then to try and close it down and give her the best quality of life.
Tesla is my dog. I was her foster and am now her Mam. I love all 8.5lbs of her... even though she has an.... interesting personality. (I believe she has a bit of frontal lobe damage from the event, but it makes her who she is.) For 9 years now, we have done electrical safety advocacy and fundraising for DDRTX. Our goal is to be certain that Tesla's life, and the pain she endured, mean something. Tesla has always been a happy, fiercely strong little girl... and her survival and strength has resonated with everyone who meets her.
Please let Tesla's accident be a warning to you, and anyone you know, that pets and children need to be kept safe from electrical cords.
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