Jenny is a 10 year young female Yorkshire Terrier weighing 5
lbs 13 ozs. She is being fostered in Texas.

Jenny is the sweetest little girl. She follows me around
everywhere, wanting pets and attention. Jenny has 6 mammary
tumors that will need to come off. She has lots of hair
loss, especially on her legs, her hair is also very straw
like, but I think once she gets some good food in her, it
will soften up and be beautiful. Her teeth are in terrible
shape. Jenny is up to date on shots, no worms and heart
worm negative.

Even though she wants attention, she stiffens when you pick
her up and looks away with that "no ones home" look. It
just breaks my heart when they do that.

Today I noticed that Jenny was straining to pee and when Jan
got here, she thought so too, so we talked to Debra and she
said to take her back in. The vet felt what he thought was
a stone so he did an x-ray and sure enough there it was.

She has already found her way to the beds and loves to nap
in them. She will be going in sometime soon for her spay,
dental, mammary tumor removal and the stone taken out. I
don't know if all this will be done at the same time or if
it will be different surgeries.

Surgery Report from our Foster moms.

Jackie and I went to be with Jenny for her spay and bladder stone removal. We hoped to get a picture of the stone when surgery was over.

Dr Janet Hardwick came out front to see us before she started and asked if we would like to watch the whole surgery!! Jackie jumped at the chance, but having fainted in a dentist office years ago, I was not too sure, but not wanting to be a wimp, I said that I would try, knowing I could either stay and watch, turn my head, sit down quickly, or worst case scenario--pass out and be the next patient to be revived.

When we got to the surgery room, Jenny had already been given a shot of morphine before the surgery started and was very drowsy. The vet techs started her iv, then anesthetized, and she was underway. They did the usually shaving, scrubbing, etc and Dr Hardwick began with the spay. The incision was rather small and using a special "hook" tool, she pulled the uterus and ovaries out through the cut. They were clamped and tied off, then removed. Not too bloody at all--Jackie was amazed, as I was at how tiny the uterus was in diameter--about the size of a drinking straw.

That being done, Dr H. lengthened her incision towards the bladder. She covered all around the incision with sterile gauze pads, reached in and lifted the bladder out of Jenny's abdomen. It was about the size of a walnut and had translucent blood vessels all over the surface. Dr H then put suture material thru the sides of the bladder and left the clamps hanging on it to keep it in place while she worked. She then picked the best place to open it up and made her incision. She said bladders usually collapse like a balloon when they are cut, but Jenny's didn't because the walls were thickened from the stone irritating it, and the stone was holding it in shape. She popped the stone out and Jackie and I were amazed at its size. It was a full inch in length, about the shape of the first digit of my little finger. The Dr irrigated the bladder well to be sure she got all the pieces out and began stitching the bladder back up. There were two different levels of stitching, each closing the bladder levels at different angles to be sure she got a good "seal". Fluid was injected into the bladder and checked for fluid leaking before she put it back inside Jenny's abdomen. She checked out Jenny's colon and said they seemed fine, not impacted (since she has was not pooping much considering how much she was eating) The stone most likely has been pressing against her colon as well. All that was left was to close the incision, again with two different layers of stitches. The inner layer will dissolve, the outside ones will be removed in two weeks. I know I won't worry so much about any dog busting open after surgery, since I have seen how securely they are stitched. I will certainly be extra gentle in handling her, as she was poked, prodded, flipped and flopped, not to mention cut and stitched. Truly Amazing!!!

I looked at the clock and it was 1-1/2 hours later. Time had flown, and Jackie and I were still standing. Jenny's vitals were still looking good, so she was carried to the area where the dentals are done. That is another whole story, but it will have to wait for later--

 

  

Many, many thanks to Dr Janet Hardwick for letting us share this awesome experience with you all. Thank you PMR for making it all possible for this sweet little one.  

Dr Hardwick called and she already has the stone analysis back. She called it "struvite" or triple phosphate. Jenny will need to eat c/d Science Diet food from now on to keep the stones from reforming.
Right now she said I can try anything to get her eating. I will go get a couple of cans of c/d to get her started. It also comes in a dry form.

Jan Smith
PMR Foster Mom