M.J. (now named Flower)!
(and
her friend Boneyard!)
On November 26, Doberman Assistance, Rescue & Education (DAR&E) got a call from South Paws Referral Center. A young guy had brought in a 6 month old female Dobe because she'd been vomiting and x-rays at his vet's showed a foreign object lodged in her intestines. Her owner did not have funds to pay for the surgery (estimated to be $2-4,000 if they did it there) so was telling them to euthanize her. They got him to release the dog to rescue. Here is little M.J.'s saga:
11/26
(from Colleen at DAR&E)
I'm waiting to hear back from our vet but we may have a really good
scenario here.....when my husband picked her up from South Paws this AM,
they said she had stopped vomiting so they thought maybe we should wait a
bit longer and see if she'd pass whatever it is. Our vet said they were
doing some x-rays this AM when I talked to them and they could see some
gas, but no object now and she had passed a bit of stool and so they
were going to feed her and see what happened. So we're in a hold pattern
and may not need to do anything.........I already asked him if they
could spay her at the same time if they do go in. I'll keep you posted in
the saga.
11/29 (from Colleen)
Went in with Justice for his check up and saw MJ and our vet has her
scheduled for spay on Tuesday if all continues to go well.
12/4 (from Colleen)
M.J. didn't clear the blockage. She'd been eating and pooping fine and
rads didn't show anything, so they went in yesterday to spay her and
figured they'd take a gander at GI tract. They got in, saw a blob
protruding on the wall of her stomach and ended up cutting out a piece
of her stomach to remove it. They sent it off to path to determine what
it is although the best guess is that it's that foreign object and it had
perforated her stomach wall and then encapsulated itself. They didn't
spay her so we'll need to do that in 2 weeks after she's healed from
this and gotten thru the significant risk of infection as there was
contamination from her stomach to the abdominal cavity. To date, her
bill is about $1700 and still counting and praying that she'll make it.
12/6 (from Colleen)
M.J. isn't doing well, back at South Paws today...it may be peritonitis
setting in......please cross your paws for our little girl!
12/7 (from Colleen)
We just got a call from the vet........cautiously optimistic. she did
eat and did pass some stool but her albumen level remains critically low.
Starting her on plasma next and I'll call in AM....next 48-72 hours is
critical.
12/8 (from Colleen)
M. J.'s condition continues to worsen, and her bills are mounting.
Heard from the vet when I got home tonight and they did find that one of
the incisions was leaking stomach contents into her abdomen - best guess
is that it was iffy tissue and it died after they stitched her back up -
as she said sometimes when you're deciding how much to cut it's kinda
like asking yourself how deep is the ocean in regards to how much tissue
to take and where bad tissue ends. It didn't look as bad as she had
feared but she's trying not to get her hopes up. We'll see in a few days
if the fluid builds back up, if this happens again - they can't put her
thru any more so with a little luck, she will heal this time and she'll
start showing signs of improvement in a few days. We need a Xmas
miracle!
12/9 (from Colleen)
Yesterday was a tough day but we have some guardedly good news..........
The options given to us over the weekend with M.J. were to either provide
support (triple antibiotics, plasma, IV fluids, etc) or to do "open
abdomen" if we could find evidence that it was peritonitis setting in.
This procedure is pretty self explanatory and very expensive - $8-10,000.
They leave the abdomen open for a length of time that depends on how bad
the infection looks, and flush it and apply antibiotics.
Sunday night the vet on duty at South Paws (same one that treated M.J.
when she came in and was relinquished by her owner) thought she was
seeing bacteria on slides of the fluid from her abdomen and she was
more painful Sunday night.
Monday AM the same vet called, in tears, saying we needed to either let
her go or do something. I told her we couldn't afford to do the open
abdomen (we've already spent $1700 on her at Aldie and had committed
to spending another $2000 or so on her at South Paws just for the
supportive care). She said that she wanted to adopt her so that she
could give MJ her best shot.....her proposal was to go back in and
see what was going on, see if anything needed to be respected, flushed,
packed, etc. She couldn't afford the open abdomen either but she could
afford the $3,000 or so to go back in and do that much. If it was too
bad, she'd euthanize her - if anything could be done, she'd like to
give it a try.
The report after surgery was that they did find an area of stomach tissue
that was not holding together and so they repaired that and they did not
think it was as bad as they feared so they feel M.J. has a good shot at
recovery. We won't know anything for a few days but the little girl still
needs our thoughts and good wishes. Please keep her in your thoughts as
we hope for a recovery. Maybe by Christmas, this little girl will be
feeling better and in a nice home, with a stocking of her own.
12/11 (from Colleen)
M.J. is doing much better, moving around and showing signs of recovery.
The next few days and weeks will be tough on her, but if all goes well,
she'll do fine!
12/27
M.J. continues to improve and feeling better! She's eating, drinking
and passing stools. Unless anything changes in the next couple of weeks,
we can declare her all better! Now that the good news is in, M.J. still
leaves behind a very large string of vet bills for the good
folks at DAR&E. This is a serious drain on the rescue group, and could
financally impact their efforts in saving more Dobermans. Your help is
needed!
If you would like to help with M.J.'s outstanding vet bill, you can mail us a donation or
use the PayPal button below to make a tax-deductible donation
for M.J. This sweet girl deserves all the help that you can send her way!
