Hello. My name is Ally. My fiancée, Don, daughter, Charlotte, and I adopted Bandit from the Brandywine SPCA on May 1, 2022. He is a wonderful addition to our family, and we look forward to watching him grow and flourish. He is a sweet little boy of Jack Russel mix who loves to chew and play and do all the puppy things that normal puppies do, but he is not a normal puppy.
About 3 months after we adopted him, Bandit began acting strangely. He would drool in large quantities over long periods. He would walk around the room as if he just couldn't get comfortable. He wouldn’t eat or sleep during these periods. We originally assumed that he was teething, so we gave him frozen blueberries and that seemed to calm him. We took him to a regularly scheduled vet appointment for a checkup, and that is when we found out it wasn't happening from teething.
Bandit was suffering from a liver shunt. Medically known as a Portosystemic Shunt.
A liver shunt is a pathway in the liver that normally exists when in the womb, as the mother is filtering the blood for the puppies before they are born. It is supposed to close shortly before the puppies are born. Bandit’s shunt did not and will not close off and not the blood doesn’t get filtered in the liver. Since Bandit’s blood is not filtered in the liver the blood flows directly into his body and the ammonia is released into the bloodstream. The ammonia will penetrate the blood-brain barrier and eats holes in his brain. He was suffering from neurological symptoms of this process. He would walk in circles over and over and bump into walls because his brain was not communicating with his body properly.
The vet prescribed medicine and food to manage his condition. He had an ultrasound at Pinnacle Vet to confirm the cause that the blood work the vet took indicated. The ultrasound indicated it as well, but they were unable to see the actual shunt so a CT scan with contrast was needed. Blue Pearl Pet Hospital was able to do that and confirm that there was a shunt, but it was internal and not external. They could not do the surgery there but referred me to Penn Vet in Philadelphia. I got the estimate of the surgery cost and got a loan for it, but then found out that we had to wait until Bandit is fully grown before the surgery could be scheduled or done. If done too early, the small coils that they would be placed in to close off the shunt and promote healing could slip as he grew, causing another possible surgery.
We have gotten his symptoms under control with medication and special diet food. These changes have allowed Bandit to behave like a normal dog, with no side effects from his condition, but his estimated life span has been reduced to about half of his expectancy.
To give him a chance to live to, and possibly beyond, a healthy dog’s life expectancy, he would need to undergo surgery to close off the shunt. This is a process that is done slowly to allow the filtering pathways of his liver, to grow and perform their original purpose. Currently, they are very thin and would not handle the full flow of blood coming into the liver for filtration. If the shunt was to be completely closed at one time, his under-formed filtration passageways would be damaged beyond repair and he would die.
This month, March 2023, Bandit has turned 1 year and is ready to prepare for surgery. We are beginning our journey to saving Bandit! Unfortunately, in the time waiting for Bandit to reach his full-grown size there were a lot of tests, scans, medicines, prescription food, consultations, and appointment costs that have taken a very large chunk out of my savings for his surgery. There will also be a lot of aftercare consultations, tests, medicines, and scans that I do not believe our family will be able to afford.
I am reaching out to anyone willing to help us save Bandit and give him the happy FULL life that he so rightly deserves. He has bravely made it to one-year-old dealing with more than most adult dogs have had to. I want him to be able to be a happy puppy, dog and senior without battling against his own body. Any amount of help would be sincerely appreciated.
