Izzy The Goat Gets Second Chance With New Legs
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4)- A baby goat in Steamboat Springs has beaten the odds after a bad case of frostbite left him with only two legs. Now he's getting new ones thanks to one woman who loves animals.
Izzy was born the smaller of twins during -25 degree weather in January. A nutrition problem created muscle paralysis in his back legs, causing him to lose them to frostbite that first night.
That's when Rory Clow stepped in, and convinced Izzy's owner to allow her to adopt and rehabilitate the goat.
"Helping animals has always been part of my life," said Clow. "He touched me with his own will to live."
Clow built custom braces to stretch the muscles and Izzy learned to walk on all four legs.
Izzy got the name thanks to all the questions surrounding those first few weeks.
"Just within the first week of his life, 'Is he going to walk? Is he going to live? Is he going to nurse?'" said Clow.
Then, frostbite struck again, and Izzy lost his back legs from the shin down. He taught himself to walk on two legs, and Clow taught him to walk on four once again, though he could not feel the back two.
After surgery removed the dead legs, prosthetics were attached and Izzy was walking on four.
Clow says Izzy is making enormous strides, and walked 600 feet on his stubs with the help of his prosthetics and a brace on Monday.
Clow knows that Izzy will need larger prosthetics in the future, as he is only 9 lbs but could grow to 200 lbs. She has set up a GoFundMe page to gather donations for the goat's medical bills and permanent adult prosthetics, which she estimates cost about $1,500 each.