Purple Heart Pets

Sadie 

Sadie is an 8 1/2 year old female boxer, owned by Valerie and David Rye of Gretna. Sadie presented in July 2010 for a cracked toenail. Initially it was thought she had caught the nail on something and traumatically broke it. But in September 2010 she returned with several additional nails cracking and falling out. At this time a diagnosis of Symmetrical Lupoid Onchodystrophy (SLO) was made. SLO is an autoimmune disease which can cause severe claw problems in otherwise apparently healthy dogs. It is characterized by the loss of claws from more than one paw. Eventually all claws may be lost. Sadie did ultimately lose all of her toenails, which was a very painful process. Treatment for this disease involves omega fatty acids, vitamin E, tetracycline antibiotics and pain medications as needed. We are pleased to report that Sadie has grown back nearly all of her nails and is running and playing with her new "wheels" like nothing ever happened. Sadie is one tough boxer!   Josie   Josie is a 20 month old miniature schnauzer owned by Bill and Chris Denkinger of Gretna. Josie presented in the fall of 2010 for frequent bloody urination. After several tests and x-rays were performed, it ws determined that Josie had a bladder stone. She was scheduled for surgery and preanesthetic blood work was performed to ensure that she did not have any underlying liver or kidney problems. To our surprise, the blood work showed that Josie had several elevated liver enzymes. Josie's owners elected to postpone her surgery and do further testing on her liver to make sure that she could handle surgery. The tests revealed that Josie had a portosystemic shunt, a condition where there is a small vessel that failed to close when she was born and shunts blood away from the liver. This was causing Josie's liver to function abnormally. Many dogs with this condition also have bladder stones. Luckily, the small vessel could be seen on an ultrasound and was in an area that could be repaired surgically. This surgery is very complex and requires the expertise of a board certified veterinary surgeon. Bill and Chris made the 3 hour trip to K-State Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Manhattan, KS. The surgeons at the veterinary hospital determined the exact location of Josie's shunt and were able to repair it surgically. They were also able to surgically remove her bladder stone during that procedure, saving Josie from having a second surgery in the future. Josie recovered well and returned home the next weekend. 8 weeks later, Josie's liver enzyme values were within the normal range and she is no longer having urinary problems. She is back to being active and playing with her house mate Lexie.   Mason Mason is a 1 year old male chihuahua owned by Amy & Gary Kuhn of Omaha. Mason was rescued from the Nebraska Humane Society in October of 2010. In December, just before Christmas, Mason chased after a neighbor dog (while still on his tie-out) and was struck in the head by a truck. His head trauma was significant and he spent 2 days in ICU on IV fluids and received treatment for shock and pain. Mason made small improvements daily but was still very ataxic (wobbly on his feet) and was vomiting and not eating. Head injuries often cause dizziness and subsequent motion sickness. Even just going out to go potty would cause more vomiting. After 2 days in the ICU, Mason was released to the loving care of his family at night and would come back to the clinic for further therapy during the day. After several days of anti-nausea and anti-inflammatory medications, Mason was back to eating and drinking and even trying to play. The full extent of his head injury and ability to fully recover is still not known, but he continues to make great progress daily. Mason is one special Christmas miracle!     Peanut Peanut is an 11 year old female rat terrier that presented in 2008 for her annual exam and was discovered to have glaucoma (elevated pressure within the eye) and cataracts (hardening of the lens). She was put on topical eye drops to help control the pressure, which can be very painful. After extended periods of elevated pressures, eventually the retina or 'film in the camera' is damaged and vision is impaired or lost. Peanut's medical management was unsuccessful and her right eye had become swollen, painful and non-visual. It was elected that she would have a surgical procedure called an enucleation (complete removal of the eye). Medication was continued in the left "good" eye for nearly a year before the glaucoma became severe enough to require the same dramatic surgery. Peanut no longer has eyes, but she is now pain free and moves about her house using her acute hearing, sense of smell and the aid of her house mates Benny & Pepper. Despite being completely blind, Peanut has always remained sweet and trusting; a true testament to the love of her owners, Mary Caffrey & Larry Wolff of Gretna. (Photo was taken before enucleations)

Jumpin' Josie

Awesome Oz

Oz is a 4 year old Great Dane owned by Nichole and Chris Polito of Omaha. Oz has a condition called Wobbler's Syndrome (also called spondylolithesis), is a condition that can affect puppies or adult dogs. They develop an unsteady gait due to a problem with the vertebrae of the neck. The vertebrae become malformed, or do not come together properly, which puts pressure on the spinal cord causing gait problems and moderate to severe discomfort. Since Oz is so large, surgical options for treatment are often not possible. He was doing great on his medications and getting around pretty well when we got a call late one evening that his stomach seemed "distended".

Oz was sent to the Animal Emergency Clinic for treatment of a GDV (gastric dilitation volvulus) or a "twisted stomach". Surgery was done immediately to "untwist" the stomach and it was tacked in place to his chest wall to prevent this from ever happening again. He also had his spleen removed at the same time due to damage done to the spleen from the incident. Oz did well with surgery but then spent a very critical 48 hours in our hospital monitoring his heart for arrythmias and continued IV fluids and pain medications.
Amazingly, Oz never had any post-operative complications--even with his pre-existing Wobbler's Syndrome he is back to his old self and doing great.

Sturdy Stanley

Stanley, is a 4 year old Newfoundland owned by Pat and Tricia Kimpston of Omaha. Stanley has been given the purple heart award for enduring bilateral (both legs) ACL surgeries. Not only does Stanley have some degree of hip dysplasia, but when he was reluctant to put weight on his rear legs and didn't seem to want to go for walks, it was decided there was more to his complicated orthopedic desease. Stanley had torn the ligaments that hold his knees in place.

In the fall of 2008, Dr Merkley (our Board Certified Surgeon) repaired his right knee with a procedure called a TPLO. In essence the leg is broken and plated back in to placed with a steel plate and 6 screws to correct the malalignment of the knee. Then Stanley started on his road to recovery and rehabilitation--only to find that his other knee was unstable enough to hinder him from full recovery. In January 2009, the other knee was repaired in the same manner.
After a lot of rest and TLC by the Kimpston family, Stanley is finally steady on his feet and able to run and play like a healthy puppy. Way to go big Stan!

Surviving Scout

Scout Oehm is a 7 year old, neutered male German Shepherd mix that presented in May 2006 after being attacked by three of his house mates. He came to Tender Care Animal Hospital in critical condition with numerous large lacerations to his back, thighs and groin area.

After several hours in surgery, Scout’s wounds were sutured and several drain tubes inserted to aid in drainage. Scout stayed in the hospital for a few days and then continued his rehabilitation with his parents, Terry and James Oehm of Gretna. Scout was placed on antibiotics and pain medications for several weeks.

Since the incident, all of Scout’s wounds have healed nicely and he is on his way to a full recovery.

Sugar meets Fed EX

Sugar Dendinger, an 8 ½ year old spayed female boxer owned by Chad, presented after being struck by a Fed-Ex truck. Sugar suffered extensive degloving of her left front foot. Essentially all of the skin and foot pads had been peeled away from the bones beneath. Other than an extremely painful injury to her foot, she came out of the incident with minimal other injuries.

Sugar went to surgery and endured extensive reconstruction to repair the skin injury to the foot. Bandages were changed daily and she was on antibiotics and pain medication for several weeks. After only 5 days it was apparent that not all of her wounds were going to hold together, a process called dehiscing. Several of her foot pads were missing or coming off. With no foot pads to walk on, it looked as if Sugar’s only option was to have her leg amputated. Chad sought the opinion of another veterinarian that came to the same conclusion. He decided that there was no hurry to amputate and he elected to continue bandage changes daily, pain medications and more antibiotics.

After a few weeks, a veterinary surgeon then evaluated the foot and decided that there may be hope of some of the pads reforming but she would likely need to have one or more toes amputated. Sugar then underwent a second surgery to remove the remaining dead tissue and thoroughly clean around the toes, nails and remaining pads. After several more weeks of bandage changes and much love from her owner, remarkably, Sugar’s foot pads did heal enough for her to walk on the foot and keep her leg and toes!

Courageous Carli

Carli, a 3yr old female chocolate lab mix, owned by Molly and Tim Simon of Gretna presented in October 2007 for limping. It was found that Carli had torn her ACL (a ligament in her knee) and would require surgery.

Dr David Merkley, a board certified surgeon, came to our facility to perform a procedure called a TPLO where the angle of the knee is corrected by using a surgical steel plate and several screws. Carli did great with the surgery, but on post-operative films it was noted that her knee angle had been over corrected and might lead to undue stress on her knee. It was agreed by all that Carli needed to have a second surgery to address the issue. So the following week, Carli again endured surgery on her knee and this time the repair was exact! Carli enjoyed a few days of rest and pain medications and then the real work began. Molly and Tim had the hard job of keeping their bouncing lab quiet for the next 8 weeks as the knee healed.

Carli is now in rehab and is getting the hang of swimming and testing her knew knee to the limit. Soon Carli will be fully recovered and ready for action. Way to go Simon family!

Yahoo for Wahoo!

Wahoo McDaniel is a 4 year old spayed female Dalmation mix, owned by Matthew and Kelli of Gretna. Wahoo presented in February of 2006 for her annual vaccines and heartworm test. To all of our surprise, she tested positive for heartworms--despite being on year round prevention! The McDaniel's are very diligent about their records and it was obvious that she had been receiving the monthly preventative, but was one of the few rare cases that tested positive nonetheless. Wahoo was admitted to the hospital for blood-work, X-rays of her heart and lungs, urinalysis and fecal exam. After a full work-up it was determined that she was healthy enough to undergo heartworm treatment. This treatment consisted of two injections in the muscles of her back 24 hours apart with a drug called Imiticide. In essence it is synthetic arsenic geared to kill the adult heartworms in her heart with fewer side effects than the real arsenic used only 15 years ago. Following her injections she was restricted to a kennel for 30 days of rest to allow her body to dispose of the dying worms and not cause a pulmonary embolism (i.e. death).

We are pleased to note that Wahoo has made a full recovery. Since she was on the heartworm preventatives year round and was tested annually, the pharmaceutical company paid for her entire hospital stay and follow-up tests.

Lucky Ladybug

Ladybug Jenny a 7 year old spayed female Pomeranian mix owned by Barb and Kevin presented to our hospital in September 2006 after being struck by a car. It was unclear how the injury occurred, but she was very sore in her back end.

She had several large contusions on her back and X-rays showed that her tail had been completely avulsed or pulled apart from her spine. There was no function of the tail whatsoever. Ladybug’s wounds were cleaned up and she was put on antibiotics and pain relievers for a couple of weeks. After consulting with a veterinary surgeon it was decided that it would be in Ladybug’s best interest to remove her beautiful tail, since it hung limp behind her and was continually getting dirty. Barb and Kevin took her home to decide on the best surgery time for Ladybug.

A few weeks later, Ladybug returned for a completely different problems and it was noted that she could wag her tail. Miraculously the nerves that supplied her tail had re-grown, despite the large space between her pelvis and the vertebrae of her tail. Lucky Ladybug found her wag and her tail was spared!

One Eye Jack

Meet Jack Oehm. Owned by James and Terri Oehm. Jack was a stray kitty that periodically approached the Oehm's to eat. They noticed that his eye had been severely injured and wanted to help. After a few days of enticing Jack into a carrier he presented to Tender Care Animal Hospital a scared, injured, stray kitten.

Once in our hospital, Jack was anesthetized and tested for viruses, treated for parasites, neutered and vaccinated. His eye was damaged beyond repair and was enucleated (surgically removed). Jack stayed in the clinic for two weeks for antibiotics and pain medications.

After two short weeks in captivity, Jack became more social and turned out to be a sweet kitten. He is doing great with his remaining eye and currently lives in the shop of James Oehm. Tender Care Animal Hospital is proud to give Jack the purple heart for bravery and courage throughout his stay in our hospital.