Mercedes!

On September 18, 2003, SND received a desperate phone call. Mercedes, a 7 year old Doberman living in Lafayette, CO, had an intestinal blockage and needed emergency surgery if she was to survive! This is the letter we received from her owners, Van and Tina Kniebes:

"Mercedes is currently in critical need of intestinal surgery for an obstruction. Cause of the obstruction at this time is unknown, however, she has had intestinal surgery prior for foreign body obstructions. This particular situation may be a result of scar tissue from her previous surgery, some form of tumor, or another foreign object.

Mercedes is currently at Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine in their Critical Care Unit in Ft. Collins, CO. If surgery is the decision, it will need to occur tomorrow, Sept. 19.

As mentioned on the phone, Mercedes has been through 3 operations in her life. At approximately 2 yrs old, she had a foreign object removed from her intestines. At age 6 she had re-constructive knee surgery. Last January she again had surgery to remove a foreign object from her intestines. The last surgery was much more complicated as her intestines were perforated and caused her to become extremely septic. She was hospitalized for 5 days and eventually had a full recovery. We are still in debt on this last occurrence which cost over $7800.00.

We have been placed in a very difficult position of deciding how to treat this latest occurrence. Our financial situation is one that makes it extremely difficult to cover the cost of another surgery, however, Mercedes is very much our child and we are trying to do everything possible to prevent us from putting her down or letting her die short of going into deeper debt.

We are desperately asking for your assistance in saving the life of this very loving Doberman. Please let me know if there is any other information you need regarding the contacts below, Mercedes history, or anything else that would assist in making your decision to help."

You can be assured that Mercedes is a very special Doberman. Even one of the vet students wrote to us about Mercedes! "Hello! I was referred to your society yesterday by the Colorado Doberman Rescue group. I'm a senior student at Colorado State's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, and received a beautiful 8-year-old female doberman on emergency yesterday afternoon. She has a caring and loving owner who has amounted well over $10,000 on his credit card over the last year in two major surgeries for her: a knee surgery and a foreign body obstruction. She's currently vomiting and anorexic; although we can't be 100% sure of the diagnosis, we suspect a bowel obstruction. As to whether it's a foreign body, an internal mass, or a complication from a prior surgery, we can't be sure, but she needs surgery immediately. The owner, Van Kniebes, is very conflicted; he loves the dog immensely, but feels he can't extend himself any further into debt. In addition, his wife is currently pregnant and he expressed to me his concern over how much this may upset her, as well, and threaten the safety of their baby. So, with that being said, I thought I'd contact you and see if there were any avenues in which your society may help the Kniebes. He has also said that he will contact you, and I will try to call again this morning around 8 am. Thanks so much for your time."