Kane's story....where do we begin.  Kane and his best forever friend Grace were abandoned in a trailer in eastern Kentucky.  Neighbors fed and watered them as they could, through a hole in the wall of the trailer.  We don't know how long they were in there but it was a least a couple of weeks.  One of the dogs broke out a window and Grace made her way outside and neighbors called animal control to help, but unfortunately is was too late for her, and she passed away in the yard.  Animal control was able to get into the trailer to get Kane out.  He was taken to the shelter for a few days then we were able to get him transported to Heartland Veterinary Hospital. Kane immediately started coughing which turned into a full blown upper respiratory infection. Chest x-rays were done and everything looked good there with the exception of a spot on/near his spine, unrelated to the URI. He was moved to isolation and was put on medication with no improvement, so more medications were added. After almost two weeks, his coughing and nasal discharge finally starting to improve. They did some follow-up x-rays and his chest, heart, lungs and windpipe continued to look good. They got a couple extra views and the spot they were worried about and found it is actually part of his spine where he has the most ventral spondylosis (degenerative change of the spine) that they have ever seen, literally running from the chest to his pelvis, it's bad. They are unsure of how much that affects him, but likely will make mobility more and more difficult as he ages.  In taking the x-rays they noticed that his stomach was super full of food, even though it was hours after they gave him food.  It was concerning and worth watching.  He hadn't been vomiting. They also noticed that his rear end looked weird, like a pooching out like affect below the tail. They snapped an x-ray of that area and it looks like he might have a perineal hernia or a hernia of pelvic canal where the rectum pushes through the normal muscles of the pelvic canal and forms a pouch like effect that packs in feces and can make defecation difficult. It is possible that that is the result of his hard coughing. The doctors performed a rectal palpation and it does seem like he has hernias on both sides of the anus (called a perineal hernia), it seems like the right side is bigger than the left. Now that he is feeling much better, he will have some more invasive testing and examination to see what needs to be done to give him the best quality of life. 

MEDICAL UPDATE FROM DR R: We just finished up with Kane, he did great with anesthesia. We got his neuter done and removed a small growth like lesion on his right front foot. He did have bilateral perineal hernias, likely been there a long time as there was a massive amount of adhesions and scar tissue and the muscles are atrophied and small. We will keep him on a soft / canned diet for the next week or so to make sure that his stool is not too firm. His prostate was very large and that can contribute to the hernia formation. He has a broken canine, looks old and looks to not be causing any problems for him so we left that alone (especially after 2+ hours of anesthesia). Just need to monitor it. All in all a good morning for him. He isn't happy about the cone of shame but is doing great!

We will give him a little bit to recover from surgery then Kane will be READY to move to a foster or forever foster home!!!  

4/8 UPDATE:  Kane arrived at his Indiana foster home on Saturday the 6th and he is VERY happy to be out of the clinic!  He has fit right in with everyone and is very much enjoying sitting in the recliner and sleeping in a nice comfy bed.   

4/18 UPDATE:  This boy is just the best.  He has settled right in with the pack and is doing amazing.  He is housebroken, eating great and is just loving life.  He has also started putting on some much-needed weight...YAY!!  He is very food motivated and foster mom feeds him separately from the others (as she does all foster dogs) and he can be a little grabby when it comes to treats but corrects easily then takes them gently.  

Good with Dogs, Good with Cats