Procedure on puppies injured in fire was successful

A surgical procedure on two severely burned puppies has been successful, according to the Thousand Oaks clinic treating them.

Bonnie Werner, a veterinarian at the Pet Emergency Clinic and Specialty Hospital, said both puppies are progressing well.

"Both of them are off the IVs and eating and drinking well," she said Monday. "They are taking their antibiotics and pain medications orally they are doing so well."

Dr. A. Richard Grossman, founder of the Grossman Burn Centers, used dermis from unborn cow fetuses to treat wounds that covered more than 50 percent of the puppies' bodies. One puppy had a touch of pneumonia that developed Friday evening, but both were lively and playful, Werner said.

The wounds appear to be healing well, she added.

The puppies were injured in a Kern County fire Feb. 8 and brought to Thousand Oaks by a Tehachapi-based rescue organization, Marley's Mutts.