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Paw It Forward Success - Mika

Staff with patient and owners in clinic

Ryan brought Mika to VESHW when he noticed unusual and excessive bleeding following her “heat” cycle.

Our staff quickly diagnosed Mika with Open Pyometra, an infection in the uterus. Pyometra is considered a serious and life threatening condition that must be treated quickly and aggressively. In Mika’s case, when pregnancy did not occur through many cycles, the uterine lining continued to thicken which created a breeding ground for bacteria.

Mika underwent surgery to remove the infected uterus and ovaries, known as “spay”. At this stage, however the surgery is more complicated, requiring longer hospitalization, antibiotics, and IV fluids.

Surgery Notes: Reproductive track was extremely enlarged and fluid filled throughout. No free abdominal fluid was noted. An ovariohysterectomy was done.

Dr. Christinat called the Ryan and let him know Mika was awake from surgery and doing great. He discussed the surgery and blood work prior to surgery and informed him we would likely keep Mika a couple of days, but there is a chance she could go home the following night if she is doing well by then. Mika was kept on a Morphine drip the next 10 hours or so, then switch over to oral pain medication. The plan was to start feeding again around noon the next day.

Unfortunately, when we checked her pulse oxygen levels, it was only 74%. We called Ryan again informing him we believed Mika had developed aspiration pneumonia and we would need to start oxygen therapy, a new antibiotic, and take chest radiographs. We let him know that Mika had been doing fine otherwise, no vomiting, ate well, potassium was back to normal, and her abdomen seems comfortable on just oral pain medication.

The radiographs did show pneumonia and it was worse than we expected. In addition to the previously mentioned therapies we did nebulization and brought up quite a bit of material from the lungs doing coupage. She already seemed to be breathing better.

The following day the lungs were still harsh, tachypneic (rapid breathing) and slightly dyspneic (shortened breath). When we get her up she is active and able to cough more material up, we kept walking her every 2 hours to see if that would help.

Ryan came in for a visit the next day, but Mika was still having problems breathing and unsafe to go home. The pneumonia was unexpected, and so was the added cost of radiographs, oxygen therapy, nebulization, and additional antibiotics. Ryan wanted to do everything in his power to get Mika back on her feet. However, the following day he recognized he had completely exhausted his funds treating Mika.

He then applied and was approved for a grant from the Paw It Forward Foundation. Mika was able to remain on her therapies and received follow-up radiographs. The radiologist felt that while still bad, the lungs had improved from the previous images. He believed the pneumonia was responding to therapy.

The next day Mika was able to walk outside without oxygen! Her breathing was good overnight and we began to wean off the oxygen therapy. She continued to improve throughout the day and returned to her family that night.

Ryan and his daughter brought Mika in for a visit several weeks later. We captured these images and our staff was thrilled to see her happily wagging her tail!

The Paw It Forward Foundation is solely funded through donations. Please consider donating to this worthy cause. CLICK HERE.