Fern will be having surgery
Our little rescue Fern made a two day visit to the vet for some testing. Fern is our little Pem rescue. She is three years old and was in Foster care for more than six months. She has an incontinence problem. Nobody wanted a leaky Corgi I guess. We fell in love with her regardless. We welcomed her to her forever home in August. We have tried a variety of teatment therapies, PPA, DES--a combination of both as well as changing her to a grain free diet and supplementing her with corn silk. These therapies were all intended to insure that the bladder "shuts off".There were no changes, in fact, the dripping got worse. The vet wanted to do a series of xrays with a radium opaque dye to determine if she had an ectopic ureter. Basically that is a tube running from the kidney, but not depositing in the bladder. Well the xrays showed that she does indeed have an abnormal ureter, but may also have an abnormal kidney. One kidney looks perfect with a ureter running right into the bladder--just the way it is supposed to, the other kidney looks very suspect with an abnormally large ureter that skims the outside of the bladder and appears to deposit in the vaginal area...very clearly explaining the constant dripping. Now we know the cause and surgery could be the cure. We have a wonderful vet, but this is an unusual surgery and it is something he has never done before and while he would like to learn this procedure he doesn't want to do it the first time on our little girl. He is sending her films to Iowa State Vet School today for evaluation and it is most likely we will be taking Fern to Ames Iowa for the surgery. She may need to have the right kidney removed if it is indeed defective, or, if the kidney is salvageable, she will have the ureter moved so that it will deposit into the bladder. While removing the kidney seems more dramatic it would be a simpler surgery and less costly. We will have to see what they say. It is going to be an expensive process no matter what...We made a commitment to this little girl when we brought her home in August and will do whatever they recommend. Fern is a happy, loving little Corgi and except for the "leaks" you would never know that anything is wrong. The vets office fell in love with her. She let them do all the nasty steps (Including enemas) and take numerous xrays over an extended period with no objections. She was very happy to be home on Saturday! We were happy to have her back!
Is there anyone out there that has gone through this with any of their dogs. Anything similar?
Is there anyone out there that has gone through this with any of their dogs. Anything similar?
Comment
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Comment by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on November 8, 2008 at 9:39pm
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Glad Fern is feeling better and the surgery went well. I am sure you are relieved that she is on the way to recovery! Yeah for Fern.... : )
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Comment by Kristen on November 8, 2008 at 9:36pm
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Fern got her staples out on Friday. She did well. It was so cool to visit with our local vet. He told me that when he got her surgical record from Iowa State he did a little happy dance! His entire staff had to stop in to see Fern and give her a hug. She does have a way of melting your heart. she just has an occassional drip now--nothing like before and the vets think even that could go away with time. You can tell she feels better and she is back to harassing cats. She goes back to Iowa State on Friday, Nov. 14 for her final surgical review. It appears the the urinary tract infection is gone and we are well on our way to a full recovery. I let Fern sleep up on my bed last night. She acted like she was in heaven.
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Comment by Geri & Sidney on November 8, 2008 at 1:35am
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How is Fern doing now?
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Comment by SqueakyPink on November 8, 2008 at 1:14am
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wow, Fern is really lucky to have parents like you!
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Comment by Laura Jones on October 31, 2008 at 2:19pm
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Get well wishes for a speedy recovery from KC and I. I am so glad it went well.
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When I read how you slept next to her kennel, I started tearing up. I am so happy you and Fern found each other, and I'm glad she's finally home. Feel better soon, Fern!
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Fern is home. She was such a happy little girl when we went to pick her up. While the surgery went well she did develop a UTI--she is still dripping and now the drips are colored red with blood. She tries to potty often and sometimes all she gets is a few bloody drips. Hopefully the antibiotics will kick the infection. They also sent home pain medication and we are using it as needed. She wants to run and play, but that will have to wait.The vet is optomistic that when she heals from the surgery and recovers from her UTI we will have a handle on the incontinence. On the post surgical report they commented on just how sweet a little girl she is. They are so right. We will return to Iowa State in about two weeks for an evaluation and post surgical consultation. I slept downstairs right next to her kennel. I think that was more for me than her! I am so glad to have her home. Since I have been out of the office two days this week it was important for me to be in the office today. It was hard to leave her. My husband is going to take half a day off to spend the afternoon taking care of her. We will keep you updated. Thank you all for your concern about our little girl!
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Great news!
When Sid was neutered, we found a different kind of "cone". It was inflatable and looked like one of those travel neck pillows. It looked like he got his head stuck in a toddler's potty seat, LOL! It was easier for him to move around though. I'm so happy Fern will be home soon!
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We get to pick up our little girl on Thursday afternoon! The Dr. called late yesterday and said that he was pleased with how the surgery went. They took out her catheter this morning and she is eating a little bit. On the road to recovery! She has been licking the incision so they put the dreaded cone on her. These are just torture devices for Corgis. Their little legs are too short to keep the cone from catching on the ground. Hopefully she will stock licking. Dr. is optimistic that this will cure the incontinence, but more importantly all the other health risks associated with the ectopic uretur are gone. He feels the kidney will return to normal function now that the flow is corrected. The sad part of all this is that since she was a breeding dog at a puppy mill, this genetic trait was possibly passed on to her offspring. If they don't have the problem they carry the gene that could show up in later offspring. So sad. We are lucky to have found Fern and will be happy to have her back home.
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I'm so glad to hear it went well! It must have been such a stressful morning for you. You'll be so happy to have her back home!
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