Chewbacca’s Story
This
month’s pet profile is dedicated to
“Chewbacca” an 8 year old female spayed
Yorkshire terrier. Chewbacca’s owners Janet
and Michael who are clearly pet lovers with 5
other dogs at home were very concerned about
their little Yorkie and rushed him to us as soon
as they could. Chewbacca came into our clinic
and presented with lethargy, diarrhea, fever,
panting, abdominal pain and severe vomiting 5-8
times daily for 4-5 days. Chewy’s owners had
switched to a raw food diet just 4 days before
they brought Chewbacca in which had seemed to
correspond to the onset of the pets clinical
symptoms. The dog was admitted into the hospital
for intravenous fluid therapy, diagnostic tests,
X-rays, EKG, blood tests and a sonogram were
performed and Chewbacca was then diagnosed with
the following:
- Severe
Pancreatitis (Inflammation of Pancreas)
- Secondary
Kidney Failure
- Urinary
Tract Infection
- Gallbladder
and Kidney Stones
- Secondary
Myocarditis (Inflammation of heart muscle)
Chewbacca
was hospitalized for 3 days and showed steady
improvement each day. She was discharged and
continued treatment as an out patient.
Pancreatitis
is a serious, life threatening disease that can
present with mild vomiting and abdominal
discomfort to a more severe form of vomiting,
dehydration, weakness, abdominal pain and even
the possibility of collapsing. The underlying
causes are often related to unhealthy high fat
diets.
Chewbacca relapsed 10 days later and was sent to
a 24 hour facility for consultation with an
associate veterinary internist. Chewbacca’s
owners unfortunately had no other choice but to
euthanize Chewbacca to prevent her from any
further suffering.
I’d like to dedicate this month’s pet story
to Chewbacca because she was just a sweet,
gentle, loving and trusting creature. She never
once complained or lost her patience with all of
my poking and prodding. I’d like to give a
special thanks to Michael and Janet for their
devotion to their pet and their trust in our
care. I’d also like to thank Robert, the
assistant manager and our staff for their
ongoing support and care in interacting with
both Chewbacca and owners.
Sincerely,
Dr.
S. Gower
