Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

On Wednesday, Winston's owner brought him into Urban Vet Care reporting that he had not been feeling well for about a week. Unfortunately, she was not in a financial position to get him the medical care he required, so she was forced to surrender ownership over to the veterinarian. Dr. Rupp contacted RMGDRI for assistance, which we of course promptly agreed to!

They did an ultrasound and x-rays and discovered a linear foreign body lodged in his intestines and he went in for emergency surgery on Thursday. The procedure was much more lengthy and involved that they had anticipated. They found multiple socks lodged in his intestines and they were highly contaminated, but no perforation had occurred luckily. They were able to get everything removed and sewn back up and Winston awoke from surgery without any problems. The doctor warned us that he is by no means in the clear yet and still has a long road to recovery ahead of him.

January 25, 2008

Winston is walking around and a bit brighter today, but he is still fighting for his life. His albumen level is very low and he is still feeling pretty yucky. The staff is taking wonderful care of him though and he is being closely monitored and they are keeping him as comfortable as possible on pain meds and antibiotics and boosting his system with IV fluids.

January 26, 2007

I went to visit Winston and he is set up with his very own room and plenty of space. He was curled up on a blanket in one of the kennels with the door open and barely had enough energy to lift his head to greet me, but was happy to be pet and receive attention. Dr. Larsen had just taken him in for x-rays of his lungs due to some bloody discharge coming out of his nose, but the x-rays were surprisingly clear. We are still worried that he may develop Aspiration Pneumonia due to the fact that he was vomiting during surgery, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that this sweet boy has no further complications.

January 31, 2008

As of today, Winston is officially ready to go to a foster home and no longer needs to be hospitalized. He is no longer vomiting and he is eating really well. He has been transitioned over to oral medications (Metronidazol and Ciprofloxacin) and his incision site is healing nicely. He is currently eating low residue food and gets 1.5 cups of food every 2 hours, up to 10 cups per day, in an effort to start and slowly put some much needed weight on him. He has to go back to the vet on Monday to get his sutures removed. Everyone at Urban Vet Care reports that he is a complete sweetheart and has made friends with all of the staff as well as the resident cat, Maxx! We are so happy that this sweet boy has pulled through this medical ordeal and we can now focus on finding the perfect new family.

February 11, 2008

Winston got his stables removed today. He is still having fairly loose stools and throwing up his food sometimes after eating, so the doctor gave us Cerenia, Metronidazol, and Metoclopramide to see if that helps. Other than that, he is really coming out of his shell more and more each day and his goofy personality keeps his foster family entertained!

February 25, 2008

Winston is still very thin and we have been unable to get much weight gain. His foster parents have to completely soak his dog food in water for 20 minutes or feed him canned food only or he will throw it right back up. He has put on a little weight, but still has a long ways to go. If you spoon feed him, he seems to do alright, but if you let him eat it off of a cookie sheet or bowl, he will gulp it and it comes right back up. This is obviously a very time consuming process to feed him and we are anxious to see some improvement. After talking to the vet, we have decided to give it another week or so and then take him back in if we haven't made any progress.

February 29, 2008

Winston's appetite is still quite hardy and he gets really excited for meal times. His foster family is still hand feeding him to force him to go slow, but he continues to regurgitate anytime any kibble is mixed in with the soft food and it doesn't seem to be getting much past his throat before he throws it back up again.

March 3, 2008

We took Winston to see Dr. Rupp at Urban Vet Care today and everyone was very happy to see their old friend! The doctor was of course just as frustrated with his skeleton-like frame and anxious to find an explanation for his inability to put on weight.

After a thorough examination, bloodwork, fecal, observation, and a barium study, Dr. Rupp has confirmed that Winston has developed an esophageal stricture. This is secondary to acid from his stomach that came up during his blockage surgery and has irritated the lining of the esophagus, leaving scarring behind and narrowing the opening. This explains why only soft food can pass through his digestive track and dry food comes right back up!

Winston will have to see a specialist with a scope as the next step. There is a procedure where they put a balloon in the stricture, fill it with air to open it up, and repair the problematic area. Donations will be needed in order to raise enough money to get Winston the care he needs, so please don't forget that you can donate online directly from our website: http://www.rmgreatdane.org/store/ ?show=donate% 20to%20rmgdri%20now!!.html.

March 10, 2008

Dr. Diehl called to report that Winston did well with the procedure and is waking up from anesthesia without any major problems. Surprisingly she did not find a stricture on the endoscopy, so the good news is that he will not require any dilating procedures. They did get the neuter done and while he was under they collected biopsies of the stomach and intestines to send off to pathology. She said that his stomach looked okay, but his intestines were slighly paler than she would expect. Possible diagnoses are IBD or intestinal cancer, which she thinks is very unlikely in his case.

She prescribed a Hypo-allergenic diet and has put Winston on steroids for the time being while we are waiting on the biopsy results.

Winston should be able to come home tonight to his foster home to recover from his big day.

March 14, 2008

Dr. Diehl called and the biopsy results came back on Winston and he has been officially diagnosed with severe Inflammatory Bowel Disease(IBD) . She said that his type of IBD suggests an allergic component which some dogs even out-grow. IBD is something you can control, but you can't cure. His prognosis is pretty good though because he is young and she is fairly optimistic that we can stabilize Winston with a combination of steriods and hypo-Allergenic food. He will be a dog that cannot eat any human food or he will risk a flare up. The hope is that he will only have to be on steroids on an as needed basis in the long-term. We are grateful that we finally know and can understand why Winston has been so skinny and our goal now will be to find a food that he responds well to and start to get some weight back on him!