Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

Kane was transported to Colorado on August 3rd, 2007 and we were even more concerned after seeing him in person and anxious to get him to the vet. On a good note, however, he was sweet as could be and settled right in! He gets along really well with other dogs and has a very good temperament.

August 8th, 2007

Kane saw Dr. Mike at Canyon Animal Hospital today, and, after a thorough neurological exam, he confirmed our suspicions and diagnosed Kane with Wobbler's Disease. He said that he is clinically very bad and is pretty advanced for a 1 year old. His gait is very abnormal and he swings his legs out and high steps. He said you could knock him over pretty easily if you accidentally lightly bumped him. He thinks he probably only has 1-2 years of quality of life left with if we proceed with aggressive pain management only.

Kane went to see a neurologist today and she felt that he would probably be a really good candidate for surgery and wanted to do an MRI to find out for sure. Surgery is definitely not possible for all of them and it is risky as well as expensive, so we don't know for sure if we will be able to pursue this option, but figured it can't hurt to find out!

Dr. Mike and Zach at Canyon Animal Hospital are fostering him and really love the little guy. He is doing really well there with all of their Danes and responding well to anti-inflammatories and Prednisone. They are committed to helping him through the recovery if we do surgery. We are very grateful for their generosity in fostering him and hopeful that there might be a chance we can fix Kane through surgical options.

We will keep everyone posted.

September 11, 2007

Kane went to see Dr. Patty Luttgen at the Neurological Center for Animals for his MRI. She said that his case is somewhat a-typical because there is no stenosis from side to side, instead it is from above, which is apparently better for surgery. She feels he would be an excellent candidate for surgery. Basically, she would remove the 4, 5, and 6 vertebrae.

If successful, surgery could potentially give Kane many more years of quality of life and he will be much more stable and have much greater control of his mobility! There is really no risk of surgery making him worse and the only possible complication would be a ruptured disc which may occur after surgery and is not very common.

There is around a 6 week recovery period and he will have to remain very quiet with no running, playing, jumping, or doing stairs. Dr.Mike & Zach are already using a harness and completely limiting his activity, so they will just continue to do so post-op.

Apparently Dr. Luttgen has been performing this procedure on a ton of Danes and Dobermans with huge success. All of them have improved and she feels very confident in her ability to help Kane. It is very rare for a Wobbler's Dane to be a good candidate for surgery, so we are excited to have the ability to help him!

Currently, the rescue cannot afford his surgery, so we will be looking into some different fundraising campaigns in order to raise the needed funding to make it possible. Donations are always welcome!

February 26, 2008

I am afraid I have some very, very sad news to share. The big day for Kane's Wobblers surgery finally arrived and yesterday he went underwent anesthesia for the procedure. He was having complications toward the end and arrested and we tragically lost him. Dr. King and Zach were fostering him and planning on adopting him after he had recovered, so they took it very hard and are simply devastated. We are all extremely heartbroken over the loss and he will always have a special place in our hearts. We know that both surgeons did everything they could to get him back and we have to trust that there was a greater plan for Kane. It is never easy to lose them so young, but everything happens for a reason and we are so grateful that Kane was in such wonderful hands and had an opportunity to experience what love and family were all about while he was with us!