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Saving Duke the German Shepherd

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This is Duke, my German Shepherd. He is the best sweet loving boy a mom & dad could ask for. Duke is very special to my family and I. He was my grandfathers boy until the day he passed away from battling cancer for 7 years. That day, Duke became mine. My pop was the glue to my family and since he left, Duke is the only thing I have left of my pop. He is my world and I can't imagine my once healthy boy leaving us this way due to a freak thing. My heart and soul deserves his second chance and all of you can help give him this chance. Here is what happened with Duke.

Last weekend, Duke had gotten "Bloat". For those of you who don't know what bloat is, it's the make or become swollen with fluids or gas in the stomach which causes it to twist and rotate which also cuts off oxygen supply. When this happens, your dog has up to 45-60 minutes to get medical attention before all oxygen cuts off. 

We rushed Duke to the vet ER around 12 midnight after he randomly started showing signs of bloat(pacing, throwing up white foam and crying in pain). He was laying down sleeping and out of nowhere started throwing up white foam in pain. When we got him to the ER, they quickly gave Duke an X-ray and took him in for immediate surgery. Usually doctors see the stomach flip 180 degrees, but Duke, his stomach was flipped a full 360 degrees. 

Dukes stomach was pure black. Doctor said they wouldn't be able to salvage any part of his stomach, that it basically died. After 4 hours of surgery we had to make the decision to remove his spleen. So we did. Once they removed his spleen, his stomach was still black. Doctors came back to get us to let us know they would have to sew him back up for us to say our final goodbyes. At this point, after hours, we accepted we tried everything. When the doctor went back to sew up Duke, they noticed not only a portion of his stomach started showing color, but his whole stomach went from black to an angry red. 

This is was the best news of the night. The whole night has been a roller coaster ride. Long story short, a couple days after surgery, we got to bring Duke home. He came home for a couple hours, slept through the night and had to go right back in the morning. Duke could not stop throwing up. We knew this was bad. Because he's been throwing up so much, doctors were concerned about bacterial infections and olcurs and wanted to go back into surgery but I refused to put him back through that without trying IV antibiotics first since he was throwing them up orally. Since he's been on the IV, Duke has been able to hold down water and the tiny bits of food they have been giving him. His levels are all normal after being near death. When Duke went into surgery his lactate level was at a 9, now back at a normal 2. His protein level was at a 1 from not being able to eat and now at a normal 2.4.

We are a loving animal family who is just asking for help and donations to continue to give Duke the best life and keep him happy and healthy outside of a hospital. My boy just wants to play and get better and he just doesn't understand what is going on. Please help us get Duke healthy. Thank you all!

Organiser

Amber Latta
Organiser
Sellersville, PA

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