Events and News : Pet of the Month : January

JANUARY PET OF THE MONTH

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Megan has definitely earned our January pet of the month honor.  She’s an almost 16 year old Jack Russell Terrier that started out her Monday morning with her Mom and brother Leon on what she thought was going to be a great walk.  Unfortunately the neighbor’s dog was running loose and before Mom could get Megan to safety she was attacked.  He went straight for her belly and tore a large hole in her abdominal wall allowing her intestines to fall out.

 

Megan was immediately rushed to our hospital where she was found to be very shocky and in extreme pain.  Dr. Forbes placed her on intravenous fluids and gave pain medication.  She could not stand when she came in, but the nerves to all her legs appeared to be intact.  Her intestinal loops appeared viable so they were wrapped in sterile wet gauze to protect them while she was stabilized.   Corey and Michelle ran some blood work and took her straight into radiology to screen for any additional damage.  Amazingly there were no broken bones, no sign of internal bleeding or damage to her chest.

 

 

 

Here are her initial radiographs showing the

damage from the attack.  In the yellow circles you can see the abnormalities in her intestines and even where they exit the abdominal wall and protrude from her body cavity.

 

Once Megan was stable she was taken to surgery where her abdomen was explored for any additional trauma.  Everything looked healthy.  Her herniated intestinal loops were thoroughly flushed clean and replaced into the abdomen.  They appeared very red and inflamed from the trauma, but it looked like they were going to survive this event.  Her abdomen was flushed clean and the abdominal hernia was closed.

 

Megan made it through stage one of her recovery, but she still had a long road ahead of her.  She was kept on very powerful pain medications and antibiotics to keep her comfortable and to prevent against infection.  She vomited numerous times in the early days of her recovery which we suspect was due to ileus (the intestine’s not contracting) after the trauma.  She was placed on additional medications to address this.  Her vitals continued to remain stable, but she just wouldn’t eat on her own.  We re-explored her abdomen to make sure there wasn’t any delayed trauma to the intestines and they were still angry, but healthy.  Mom came to visit on a regular basis trying to keep her spirits up.  Since the vomiting was controlled we began syringe feeding her to get her intestines moving again.  After 7 days of hospitalization we determined that Megan was finally stable enough to go home in hopes that she would start eating on her own.

The picture to the left is her post-surgery radiograph, showing the repairs.  Note the differences in the placement of the instines.

 

Megan was very happy to be home.  She had a slow start, but once she started eating small amounts she progressed nicely – especially after she found some snacks during a birthday party!  A trauma like this is hard on a dog at any age.  Potential complications of a trauma like this could include: spinal cord damage, damage to other internal organs, uncontrolled bleeding, peritonitis (infection inside the abdomen) from the contaminated wound and intestinal loops or delayed necrosis (dying off) of portions of the intestines from the trauma.   Fortunately Megan was spared these complications and she was a real trooper throughout her recovery.  

 

We’re glad she’s back to her old self!

 

"Thanks again for saving our family dog.  My husband has had Megan since a pup and that was 16 years ago.    There was no way she could have survived this tragedy without the excellent support and care she received from all the staff at Rock Bridge Animal Hospital, thank you."

 

Tracey Littell