July 30th, 2006

Sunday. Yesterday I saw one of the strangest cases I’d seen in weeks—if not months. It would have been a sad one, too, were its conclusion not likely to result in a healthy pet within a week.

A six-week-old pup, a Jack Russell (AKA Parsons) terrier was rescued from a farm in Miami’s hinterlands. He was found with no food or water, scrounging on the ground for whatever food source he could find.

The pup looks lively enough but he’s suffering from a hideously protruding abdomen, much like those in photos of starving children from third world nations. Picking him up, I could feel the firmness of it. Closer observation by manual palpation of the protuberance revealed a clearly delineated large structure within his abdomen. And while the mass could not be moved, prodding it with my fingertips could change its shape somewhat, sort of like sand under your toes or an exercise ball in your hand.

I take an X-Ray. After it’s developed the source of the mass is obvious: this pup’s stomach is so full of food it’s been distended by roughly ten times its typical size. A stool sample tells the rest of the story: cracked corn. This pup has been starved, eating only the indigestible foodstuff intended for the farm’s chickens.

The distraught family was relieved to hear the news. The pup will live. He’ll have to be relieved of his gastric impaction through a steady diet of laxatives, highly digestible, low residue food and fluid replacement via Pedialyte.

I’ll provide an update tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!