Hi everyone, it took me a while to figure out how I wanted to talk about Gretzky. He was my second foster through 4 Paws for Ability, an organization that raises and trains service dogs for children and veterans with disabilities. I figured I’d start from the beginning. When he was only a couple days old I fell in love with the litter. I knew that my next foster was going to to be one of them. Originally I had my eye on LoLee, RiRi, and Brittany (I mean come on Brittany and Spears as my fosters?? Iconic) After some thought I realized heat is not for me LOL and decided on Gretzky. Him, RiRi, and Brittany all got sent to prison for a few weeks. I was sure Spears would go back to AT by then but just in case I started to look for a temporary foster. We found an absolutely amazing one and I cannot thank her enough for everything she has done for him. She kept him for a month post-prison until Spears went up for AT. The day I dropped her off I picked the sweet boy up. We spent a little over 3 weeks together. In this time I noticed something wasn’t right. He didn’t love to eat or walk, he slept all the time, hardly played (with other dogs or toys which was odd for a teething puppy), his breath was absolutely awful, and he had a little funky breathing. I had emailed the vets regarding these things a couple of times already. After going back and forth I decided to just take him to a local vet where some blood tests revealed he was anemic on Friday. After this, 4 Paws requested he be up there for the weekend until they could get him to MedVet on Monday. He was visited by his amazing sponsor and previous temp foster. After 2 1/2 days of waiting, I got the call. he has a intrahepatic liver vessel shunt. To my understanding that means his blood, instead of getting filtered through the liver, just goes straight to his heart. He will need surgery but they cant do that until hes at least 9 months old. The surgery isn’t 100% and is expensive which is why they decided to medically release him from the program. The surgery and CT scan needed will be around $10,000. He can be put on medication to help but he will most likely have a relatively short and low quality of life if he does not get the surgery. Symptoms that he hasn’t shown yet but may in the future can include seizures, walking in circles, dizziness, and more. He already is lethargic, has excessive drool, and a decreased appetite.

His assessment from the vet:

“Gretzky has been diagnosed with a single intrahepatic portosystemic liver shunt. This is an anomalous vessel that travel through the liver but does not deliver the necessary blood flow to the liver. The result is that the liver does not function as well as a normal dogs. Intrahepatic shunts are difficult as they do not lend themselves to surgical correction due to the location within the liver. A minimally invasive technique where metal coils are dropped into the abnormal vessel to embolize it and help redirect blood flow is necessary. In order to successfully perform this procedure special measurements must be taken based on a CT angiogram and this should be performed when Gretzky is closer to fully grown so that we know these measurements won’t change as he matures. The cardiology service, who performs these procedures, has recommended performing this at 9 month of age for Gretzky. This gives us 4 months before this procedure can be performed. Patients with liver shunt do not metabolize protein as well as normal dogs and by products of protein metabolism tend to build in circulation. Ammonia is one of these byproducts and can effect on behavior and attitude (hepatic encephalopathy). This can have major impact on quality of life. Fortunately there are medical measures we can take now that will help to reduce ammonia in the body and improve quality of life. This include both medications and a low protein diet.”

He will be up for adoption and as much as I would absolutely love to adopt him I just am not in the financial position where I can give him the care he needs. That being said, the surgery is only going to be highly recommended to the adopters and will be their decision of whether or not to get him said care. I am starting this GoFundMe and will be giving the funds to the adoptive family to go towards his surgery. A diagnosis like this when he isn’t even 6 months old is heartbreaking. Please help give him the life he deserves. Thank you. Love you forever Gretzky boy. ❤️