The Miracle Dog

On April 9, 2018, I was not excited that I was going to have a birthday the next day. I was feeling complete devastation as my sister drove us home. We drove away from my dog who was having emergency surgery and was in critical condition. I did not care about my birthday. I could only think of my little dog, brushing the hands of death.

The Beginning

Her name is Peanut Butter. She is mostly tan with floppy ears. Her face says Jack Russell, but her long back and stubby legs say Dachshund. I had just moved into a new city for a new life. I worked full-time, which made me miss home every second I was at work. I remember how stressed I was all the time. I cannot say I noticed the signs, but I am a self-center human.

Sometime in February, I took Peanut to the veterinarians to get a check-up because I felt something was wrong. She would eat and drink normally, but either throw the food up or refuse water altogether. Nothing was conclusive, so the doctor sent us home with a few pills. The medicine did the trick and she was back to her original self.

Then it was mid-March when I noticed something was wrong with her again. This time she would sleep a lot during the day and had low energy. Peanut is now seven in dog years, but she acted like a much older dog. It worried me that the veterinarians could not figure out what was wrong with her. Peanut would feel better one minute and worse the next.

Pill Popping

I took Peanut to the veterinarians many times for around three months. Each time was another 100 something dollars out of my pocket and more medicine that did not work. Peanut took her pills in hot dog rolls, but that was a mistake on my part.

She soon got sick and I was told that the hot dogs were messing with her intestines. I tried other methods like peanut butter, but that did not work. Peanut butter is her namesake, but she has never like the taste or smell of peanut butter. My only method was to hold her down and shove it in her mouth.

Fake Pregnancy

My family used to have a Jack Russell named Munchie. She passed away a year before I moved out of my parents' house. She became pregnant one time, but it is still a mystery of how since she was the only dog in the house. Before we found out, Munchie was acting odd and sleeping a lot. My mom and I took a trip to the veterinarians. “Don’t you think she is pregnant?” said the lady at veterinarian's office who was picking up her dog that she boarded.

I heard the exact same thing come out of the doctor’s mouth when I took Peanut in for another check-up. She swelled around the stomach and showed signs of pregnancy. There were two things that did not fit this theory. First, Peanut runs away from humans and dogs, so how? Secondly, a pregnant dog would have an increase in food and water intake, but Peanut was the opposite.

X-Ray Results

The veterinary technicians took x-rays of her abdomen and it was shocking what we found. There were some unidentified circles inside her uterus. The veterinarians were not sure if the small circles were little puppies, so they sent us home with a promise to watch her situation.

The idea of her being pregnant was soon forgotten when they took another x-ray a few days later. In that time, Peanut was getting worse, sleeping more and randomly crying in pain. We would carry her on the stairs since it hurt her to use them. Once I was called to see the new set of x-rays of her abdomen, the image was different. Now there were small circles in her small and large intestines.

The Bile

On top of everything, she started to discrete this horrid smelling liquid out of her body all of a sudden. When I came to see the results for the second x-ray, I was told during her examination that she was releasing bile that built up in her large intestine. It was a good sign that the bile was being released naturally. If a dog has a blockage of bile in the intestine, it makes the condition of the dog become critical.

The Final Visit

The doctors finally have the true diagnosis now with all the x-rays, Peanut’s symptoms, and the bile. She essentially had an infection for a bacteria in her uterus and it spread to the intestines. It caused an intestinal inflammation that expanded her stomach, messed with her digestion of food and drink, and created excess bile in the intestine. Peanut’s doctor told us that she needed emergency surgery today.

The Surgery

My sister got hold of information on a clinic that would take her in without an appointment. We drove there—in a town that was far from our house—to see someone who could perform the surgery. I remember holding my little dog in my arms, feeling numb. I did a lot of crying in this whole ordeal. It took everything out of me to leave my sick dog at home while I went to work. She was my inspiration to continue to make money, and to not give up on her.

The examination was quick since we sent all the notes and x-rays from my veterinarians already. The paperwork was signed and the detailed surgery was explained. My sister and I left the animal hospital speechless and that silence grew on the way home.

Conclusion

I celebrate my 24th birthday with news that surgery went well, but she would have to stay a little longer to recover. The numb feeling grew every minute I was away from Peanut. While she was recovering, I was able to see her at the hospital. I cried in the small examination room while I commented on how her shaved legs made her look funny. It was hard to leave my little dog again, but I knew she needed to stay.

My Peanut is now fully recovered and doing great. She is a spoiled mess and gets everything she desires. Her doctor says that this condition could show up in the future, but I do not think about that. I have her now, healthy and self-indulgent. That is it, I will take her.

X-Ray Results