Surgery for Great Dane Splat

SPLAT NEEDS SURGERY!

Splat is a really sweet, 10 month old great dane puppy that came into rescue with For the Love of Danes Rescue Society extremely malnourished. Despite his physical condition, Splat is a SUPER friendly pup who LOVES the people and pups he meets. He has a great personality and is a super social pup. He goes to work with his foster mom (as he needs to eat multiple times during day) and is the greeter at her office.

In care, he was doing well and gaining weight until one day when he was lethargic and would not eat. A Vet visit revealed that he had aspiration pneumonia. While being treated for that, the Vet suspected that the reason for the pneumonia was a condition called Mega Esophagus and referred us to a specialist.

Mega Esophagus is a condition where the food does get pushed down into the stomach properly and can sometimes be inhaled into the lungs causing aspiration pneumonia. One of the ways to help the food go down properly is to have the dog sitting up so gravity can help move the food in the right direction. This is what we are doing now with Splat.

After consult with the specialist Friday, we discovered that Splat's condition is operable. This is GREAT NEWS! Splat actually has PRAA, which can present in a similar manner to Mega Esophagus. PRAA (Persistent right aortic arch) is something that usually resolves at the puppy stage, but in Splat's case it didn't. With this surgery, Splat can live a normal doggy life and not have to have to sit up for 20-30 min after he eats.

We need to raise $6000-$7000 for his surgery at the end of November.