Imperforate anus

[nez]

hopen all is well with this furbaby,,,prayers are with this one. nez

[CarolC]

Hi Debbie,

How is she doing?

[Debbie-Spain]

Brisa was adopted by the lady I mentioned, who looks after her beautifully.

I saw them on Wednesday. Brisa is growing but not putting on as much weight as the vets would like. She had her first vaccinations on Wednesday, previously they were worried they could make her too weak.

She poops fairly constantly and generally has some poop hanging off her rear end. But on Wednesday's x-ray she was still fairly full of poop and so they have increased the lactulose etc.

She is lively and playful. I am still hopeful her megacolon will improve and she will even recover some control long term, I think the sphincter needs time, the vets seem a bit disappointed she isn't doing better, but I feel that she will do in time. The main danger is infections. She has some irritation due to the constant cleaning of her rear end, but she cannot be bathed yet.

She will need a further operation, in a couple of months I expect, to move the anus away from the vulva, that should reduce the potential for infections but probably won't help in terms of control over her fecal incontinence.

The photo of her is on her new Mom's lap in the hospital waiting room this week, it was siesta time and she was having a nap!

Thanks for asking about her!


Debbie

[CarolC]

Awww, life is good and that little bundle of doggy happiness exists because of YOU! I am so glad. We have another dog like this posted in Financial right now.

[Debbie-Spain]

Oh, I just looked, I wish I could help but unfortunately not very strong in the financial area these days, normally people have to help mine

I hope that her operation goes well,

Hugs

Debbie

[harlexquinn]

Hi Debbie,

I just wanted to check up on you and see how everything is going?

I currently have a puppy (bred from my 2 dogs) who was born without an anus. He was 3 weeks old when we noticed and got him the surgery immediately after.
He makes poo every few days but he refuses to eat most of the time and is now 9 weeks but hasn't gained a pound in 3 since he was weighed for his first shots at 5lbs. He is a boxer, we have another one of his brothers (the runt) who is a good 15lbs but poor little Lonnie is just 5 boney pounds. I try to hope for the best, I give him anything he will eat at this point ( he really likes cat food). But I just don't know if he is going to make it, he plays and barks and enjoys life but he is skin and bones. His main concern is just to try and poop, he's not your average puppy but he is the cutest little guy I have ever seen in the whole entire world!!

I am hoping for a success story to help bring some positivity back into my mind so that I can transfer that energy onto him. Not many people have experienced a love like this and as much as I envision him being an adult dog with his strange sense of personality I just don't know anymore... I guess in a way this is what some people experience with anorexic teens, it's just so sad and you try to help them so much but they refuse the help.

[Debbie-Spain]

Brisa is fine! She is a year and a half old now... The journey has not been without its tough parts, especially for the lady who adopted her. Since her original surgery Brisa has had at least another 2 operations, one was because the hole they made initially began to close up, and another was to spay her, and I think there was one in between for some reconstruction work... but I guess each different dog's malformation is different and will require more or less work. She hasn't had any operations for some time now, they were all at the start, and hopefully will not need any more.

Brisa did have some problems at the start with being underweight for her breed and age, and she is still on the small side even now, I remember there was a time that we were worried about her too because she was just skin and bones, but with the care she has had she has made it through. She does wear diapers. But she is the happiest, most playful thing you can imagine, so I don't think her problem bothers her too much. I have several incontinent dogs in my house at any one time (five at the moment) and I find that their problem tends to bother people much more than it bothers them! But I'm not sure if that is the case with Lonnie; some dogs have the surgery and can then control pooping quite well.

If you haven't already, I would get him checked again by the vet to ensure that there is no obstruction/problem with scar tissue, etc., and discuss feeding him some kind of concentrated food, something like Hill's A/D or Royal Canin Convalescence, as they are packed with nutrients, even if only eaten in small amounts, and as they are canned wet food most animales will happily eat them. If he drinks water normally I would also be sneaking stuff into that to try and keep him as nourished as possible, there are some good liquid supplements around that could be helpful. I think it's important to get professional veterinary advice on that because a boxer is a much bigger dog than a poodle, and a possible lack of nutrition as a puppy could be more of a problem for him as he gets older, I would imagine he will need calcium but not sure what else...

I always try and base my decisions on how the animal behaves without taking into account other people's views (especially people who are not living with the animal in question)... i.e. if Lonnie is happy and playful most of the time then I would definitely try to provide him with all the resources possible to enjoy a good quality of life without thinking too much about what might happen in the future. Animals tend to live much more in the here and now and I often feel that we should learn how to to do that too, if he is happy and playful that is how we should react to them. There were times I was worried that Brisa might not make it through and it crossed my mind that maybe "saving" her might have been a mistake, but here she is to prove me wrong... so my advice would be to give it all you've got and enjoy and appreciate every day that he is happy and playful!

Attached is a photo sent me by her adopter from October 2010... Brisa is the poodle on the right hand side of the blue blanket...

Sending you lots of positive energy from Spain for both you and Lonnie!


Debbie