{"id":2855,"date":"2016-01-29T12:16:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T20:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/?p=2855"},"modified":"2024-03-07T10:19:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T18:19:27","slug":"a-puppy-mill-dogs-new-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/2016\/01\/29\/a-puppy-mill-dogs-new-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Puppy Mill Dog’s New Chance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Web Extra<\/span><\/p>\n

by Marcia Hill Gossard \u201999, \u201904 Ph.D. | Photos by Henry Moore Jr.<\/em><\/p>\n

For three days, \u201cLeah,\u201d a charcoal gray Cane Corso, or Italian Mastiff, with a white patch on her chest had not been breathing on her own. Hooked up to a ventilator in the intensive care unit of the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital<\/a>, the machine delivered each breath to her weakened body. After so much time, her owner Holli Peters wasn\u2019t sure Leah was going to pull through. \u201cI thought about taking her off the ventilator, because her prognosis was not good,\u201d she says. But on the fifth day, Leah started showing signs of improvement. She was starting to breathe on her own.<\/p>\n

Two month earlier, in March 2015, Peters had read about Leah on a rescue group\u2019s website. Covered with callouses, Leah had been found wandering outside a kill shelter in Houston, Texas. Part of her uterus hung outside her body and her nipples stretched two inches long from being bred too many times. Most likely she spent the first years of her life at a Texas puppy mill, and was left at the shelter when she could no longer have puppies. Her medical issues were so great that according to Peters even some rescue organizations didn\u2019t want to take her. \u201cI couldn\u2019t stop thinking about her,\u201d says Peters. \u201cShe deserved a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leah made the trip from Texas to Montana, where Peters picked her up and drove her to her new home in Clarkston, Wash. Hontz, another rescued mastiff, was waiting for them. \u201cWhen they met they became best friends,\u201d she says. As the weeks went by, she noticed Leah seemed unusually tired and was sleeping more. Then Leah started having trouble breathing.<\/p>\n

Peters took Leah to her local veterinarian who found a mass on Leah\u2019s lung. Concerned it could be cancer, she was immediately referred to the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Once at WSU, Leah had a CT scan, which showed the mass to be the size of a tennis ball. Based on Leah\u2019s age and the location of the tumor, WSU small animal surgeon Dr. Boel Fransson believed it was likely an abscess and not cancer, but she wouldn\u2019t know for sure until she performed the surgery. Because Leah\u2019s breathing was so labored Dr. Fransson recommended surgery right away.<\/p>\n

The next morning on May 1, Dr. Fransson performed a lung lobectomy, removing Leah\u2019s accessory lobe, one of four lobes dogs have in their right lung. After the surgery, Dr. Fransson was able to deliver the good news, the mass was not cancerous. And even with lobe removed, Leah would be able to easily have a normal life. Leah did so well post-surgery she was able to go home the next day. \u201cShe recovered really quickly from the procedure,\u201d says Dr. Tandi Ngwenyama, WSU critical care veterinarian. \u201cShe is a really tough dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that night, Leah started coughing up blood. \u201cShe didn\u2019t seem right,\u201d said Peters. Leah was disoriented, breathing fast, and wouldn\u2019t lie down. So Peters drove Leah back to the WSU veterinary hospital<\/a> for emergency care. The diagnosis: aspiration pneumonia. \u201cIt is a common complication we see in the ICU,\u201d says Ngwenyama.<\/p>\n

Sometimes patients contract pneumonia, a secondary infection, post-surgery from being anesthetized or just from being sick and having inflammation, Ngwenyama says. Aspiration pneumonia is inflammation in the lung is caused by inhaling something foreign. In Leah\u2019s case it is likely that she regurgitated and aspirated it into her lungs. If the gastrointestinal tract is not functioning properly, which is not uncommon during anesthesia, says Ngwenyama, a patient\u2019s esophagus, which carries food from the mouth to the stomach, can have inflammation. Called esophagitis, it can cause the protective mechanism in the airway that usually prevents foreign substances from entering the lungs to be unable to do its job. The foreign matter doesn\u2019t go all the way into the lungs, says Ngwenyama, but through aspiration into the airways it can cause a secondary infection such as pneumonia.<\/p>\n

When Dr. Ngwenyama examined Leah, her lungs looked even worse than she expected. \u201cLeah had a more severe infection and we suspected ARDS,\u201d says Ngwenyama. Called Acute respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS can also be caused by aspiration. When a patient has ARDS, the lungs are unable to carry enough oxygen to the blood, and it is often life threatening. Ngwenyama says that similar to ARDS cases in people, the chance of a dog surviving ARDS is very low.<\/p>\n

Because Leah\u2019s lungs were unable to deliver the oxygen she needed, the WSU intensive care team began by giving her oxygen through tubing in her nose. But they could tell it wasn\u2019t giving her enough oxygen, so they put her on a ventilator that would breathe for her. Patients like Leah need around the clock monitoring and care, says Ngwenyama. So a team of ICU nurses, veterinary residents, interns, and fourth year veterinary students took turns giving Leah 24-hour care.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cA few years ago without the current ICU team, Leah might not have lived,\u201d<\/strong> says Dr. Fransson.<\/p>\n

\n

While Leah was on the ventilator there were times both Ngwenyama and Peters wondered if they should continue. \u201cThere is no guarantee the patient will get better,\u201d says Ngwenyama. \u201c[The ventilator] just buys us time to let her body see if it can repair itself and recover from the pneumonia.\u201d And because the ventilator may cause other complications, Ngwenyama wanted to take her off as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

Just as they were losing hope, Leah started showing signs of improvement. Dr. Ngwenyama was able to decrease the amount of time Leah was on the ventilator and let her begin to breathe on her own. A few days later on May 12 she was strong enough to go home. \u201cShe surprised me,\u201d says Peters. \u201cNo one thought she would pull through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be a roller coaster ride, but Holli had a lot of faith and perseverance,\u201d says Ngwenyama. \u201cAgainst all odds Leah managed to overcome a lot of obstacles. She was able to get over pneumonia and walk out of the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago, the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital expanded its emergency care service when they hired veterinarians and critical care specialists Drs. Tandi Ngwenyama and Linda Martin. \u201cA few years ago without the current ICU team, Leah might not have lived,\u201d says Dr. Fransson.<\/p>\n

Leah returned to the hospital June 18 so Dr. Fransson could perform surgery to repair her uterus which in part had been hanging outside her body. The surgery went even better than expected and with no complications. \u201cPeople teared up when they saw her looking like a normal dog again,\u201d says Fransson. \u201cIt was very rewarding.\u201d Two days later, Leah went home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had nothing but a great experience at WSU,\u201d she Peters. \u201cIt was really comforting having people care so much about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a dog whose life began with such hardship and cruelty, Leah now finds herself surrounded by love and support. Leah is enjoying her life with Peters and playing with Hontz. People from all over also gave generously* to help Leah, whose bills exceeded $23,000, and to the WSU intensive care unit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Leah returns to the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital for follow ups, everyone continues to dote on her. \u201cShe is like a celebrity when she comes in,\u201d says Ngwenyama. \u201cShe is the sweetest, gentlest, and kindest dog. Not all of our patients make it in the ICU, so it is nice to see a success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

*Leah received $1000 from the WSU Good Samaritan Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For three days, \u201cLeah,\u201d a charcoal gray Cane Corso, or Italian Mastiff, with a white patch on her chest had not been breathing on her own. Hooked up to a ventilator in the intensive care unit of the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, the machine delivered each breath to her weakened body. After so much time, her owner Holli Peters wasn\u2019t sure Leah was going to pull through. \u201cI thought about taking her off the ventilator, because her prognosis was not good,\u201d she says. But on the fifth day, Leah started showing signs of improvement. She was starting to breathe on her own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1015,"featured_media":2876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":[]},"categories":[554,542,514],"tags":[539,614],"wsuwp_university_location":[332],"wsuwp_university_org":[425],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1015"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2855"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2881,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2855\/revisions\/2881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=2855"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvm.wsu.edu\/advance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=2855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}