It’s a Miracle!

Mike Senini presented to Gully Animal Hospital the morning of 10/13/07 after being attacked by a dog.  He had extensive damage to his back right leg and groin area.  Mike was immediately taken to surgery to attempt to stop the bleeding from his wounds.  Several drain tubes had to be placed to drain fluid and infection.  Mike did well during and after the surgery and went home with several antibiotics and pain medication.

On 10/22/07, Mike came back to the clinic with a large bulge in his groin area.  He was taken to surgery to remove what was thought to be necrotic tissue.  In fact, the swelling was his urinary bladder that herniated through his abdominal wall and was under his skin.  The bladder was in terrible shape and had multiple holes that were leaking urine.  The tissue of the bladder lost a lot of blood supply and was dying.  After a few hours of surgery the holes in the bladder were repaired and was replaced into his abdomen.  The hole in his abdominal wall was dying tissue but was sutured closed with multiple layers of sutures.  Due to the severity of the damage and the fact that the bladder tissue was dying, Mike had a very poor prognosis for survival.

I am happy to report that Mike is a survivor, he was determined to heal.  With aggressive medical management and the best medicine of all, love, Mike is now leading a normal life with his family.  Mike used to growl at the staff when he came in for checkups; he now has a new outlook on life and has made friends with everyone here.  He is part of our family.

It’s a Miracle!

Harley Lane presented to Gully Animal Hospital on 11/18/07 with a history of constipation.  He was only 6 months old and had a history of chronic constipation.  He had very underdeveloped teeth and very small features.  This is considered a severe birth defect and was the root of his problems.  He was malnourished and dehydrated from his condition.  Repeated enemas were done in an attempt to resolve the problem.  His colon was so large that he could not push to urinate and his urinary bladder was extremely full.  After many enemas with no improvement, surgery became the only option to save him.  Even though he was very sick he would still not pass up the opportunity to lick your hand or face, he is a very sweet little guy.

Surgery was started to remove the colon.  He was in such poor health that his heart stopped when anesthesia was administered.  Emergency intervention was able to restart his heart and surgery was continued.  It was noticed during surgery that his urinary bladder had scar tissue present indicating that it had ruptured at some point and had healed itself.  After surgery, Harley only had about ½ inch of colon left.  This meant that if he survived he would have loose feces for life.  A surgery this intense on a pet that is in such poor health can often have a poor survival rate.

Harley did not know this or even care that he had an uphill battle in front of him.  I was amazed that the day following surgery Harly had a ravenous appetite and was feeling great.  He was able to urinate normally and continued to improve over the next couple of days.  This picture was taken 14 days after surgery and Harley is happy and healthy.  We are all overjoyed that Harley is such a fighter and is still a part of everyone’s life.