To Save A Life: Puppy Lorraine’s Prayer

A single phone call has the power to change the trajectory of an animal’s life. It did for 9-month-old Lorraine, a mixed breed girl with severe regurgitation.  Critter Crusaders accepted her into our medical system Sunday Feb.10th, not knowing the dramatic turn of events that would occur barley two days later.  Lorraine is hospitalized and initially had a work up through CC at Eastern Iowa Veterinary Specialty Center with bile acids and a GI panel for ongoing regurgitation of her food yesterday.  She is about 20lbs underweight indicating this condition had been going on a while.  The doctors were expecting some sort of inflammatory bowel issue along with several other suspect conditions that are common with her symptoms.  But everything changed very quickly.  Overnight, Lorraine regurgitated several times an hour.  Nothing medically helped.  The staff had their hands full.  Today the plan was to take biopsies of her stomach and intestines.  Instead, Lorraine was rushed into an emergency surgery with Dr. Rhonda Aper.  What she found was stunning.  The majority of puppy Lorraine’s internal organs were adhered together pulling them out of position so her entire GI system from her stomach on down was nonfunctional.  Her diaphragm, liver, spleen, pancreas, stomach, pylorus and duodenum were stuck together and pulled up and to the side of her abdomen. These adhesions are massive scar tissue, much like painful endometriosis in females. This is a very uncommon and unexplained finding, especially in such a young dog with no history of trauma.  Multiple organs were compromised and she lacked the ability to pass food from her stomach into her small intestines.  It just all came right back up, like hitting a brick wall.  Dr. Aper removed the massive adhesions and repositioned the organs.  She also had to perform a pyloroplasty, where this valve at the bottom of the stomach is made wider and more functional.  Lorraine’s pyloric valve was complete blocked.  

This is a huge surgery for this sweet girl and will require many days in critical care.  Her biggest risks are severe pancreatitis and a breakdown of the damaged and inflamed tissue in the GI tract.  We are asking those that can, to please help us in saving Lorraine’s life.  With many other post-surgical pets in our system, we would so appreciate any financial assistance that you can give.  Well wishes and good thoughts are welcomed as well.  The toughest thing for an organization like ours is to ask for help.  Critter Crusaders takes on these big medical and surgical cases, but sometimes the extent of needed treatment even surprises us. It is like stepping off of a ledge into the unknown.  All donations through this Go Fund Me will be directly applied to Lorraine’s bill at EIVSC in Cedar Rapids.  We thank you for any assistance and we are determined to give this puppy her chance of a lifetime.  We also thank our friends at Last Hope for taking Lorraine into their rescue system. 

More to come. ️ ️ ️