Mousse
was put down after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of 4 1/2
years old. But only two years earlier, Mousse nearly lost his life
after swallowing a piece of rug yarn. It
was New Year's weekend when Mousse began to show signs of not feeling
well. By Monday morning he was throwing up every time he ate.
After a series of barium x-rays, a blockage was found. Surgery was
immediately scheduled and an 8-inch piece of rug yarn was the cause of the
blockage. The yarn had accordioned the intestine and damaged its
wall. My local vet was able to remove the yarn but Mousse did not
rally after the surgery. Seven days later another surgery was
performed. This time they found that he had developed peritonitis.
During the following week Mousse seemed to be feeling better then began to
get sick again. My local vet seemed at a loss as to what the problem
was and kept adding antibiotics to the regime in the hopes that something
would begin to work. By the end of that week Mousse was refusing to
eat and was obviously in trouble. On Sunday morning I loaded him up
and headed for the dog shows in Brooksville in search of a vet to get a
second opinion. Dr. Cindy, a vet in practice in south Florida, took one look at him
and told me to take him to the University of Florida vet school in
Gainesville - NOW! Don't wait for Monday. Traveling north to
Brooksville had put me a third of the way to Gainesville. The
vet school opened their doors to us that Sunday afternoon and within 2
hours Mousse was in surgery. A team of 6 doctors and assistants had
been called in for this emergency. The problem this time was that
the intestine had ruptured. Now Mousse had an E. coli infection
throughout his abdomen and chest cavity. Had I waited a few more
hours to get him up to the university his chances of survival would have
lessened greatly. Read
the rest of the story and view photos. |
