Emergency Surgery: Yujiro Survived! Please help.

This campaign is for our dog, Yujiro. He was Scotty's first dog that he got for himself and is a beloved member of our family. To meet Yujiro is to love him, and I am eternally grateful to those who generously donate or share this campaign to assist us in providing the absolute best care to a dog who has given us the best love.

His bills can be viewed here Yujiro Bills

Yujiro Photos

So, what happened?

On January 16th, my heart cat, Farrah, was euthanized after a three-year-long Feline Leukemia (FeLV) battle. Our family was shocked and exhausted from the week prior's near-constant care and attention devoted to our elderly cat.

On January 17th, while we grieved, our senior dog, Yujiro (age 13), ate his dinner and promptly threw it up. We weren't overly concerned as this was not an unusual thing for our sensitive boy. At the time, we believed he was overwhelmed with the house's stress and felt just as sick to his stomach as we did. However, what was unusual was that he continued to vomit. The next day, we attempted to feed him, which he understandably did not want, and give him water. He held down the water but looked incredibly depressed and tired. We let him rest the next day, hoping he would recover, but when he didn't, we decided to take him to the vet.

January 20th, in an abundance of caution, I drove Yujiro to be assessed by a vet. I believed he was dehydrated and needed fluids and possibly something to ease his nausea. The vet wanted to do a blood panel just to be safe, as Yujiro is a senior dog. We quickly realized this was not just an upset stomach when the results came back. His results showed a sky-high elevation of the liver enzymes ALT and ALKP. When elevated to an extreme, these enzymes suggest liver damage and liver failure. She was also concerned because his eyes were yellow or jaundiced. Her diagnosis was that he most likely had pancreatitis, potentially fatal if not treated with fluids. Our vet advised us to take him to 24-hour emergency care to receive fluids throughout the night.

January 21st: Yujiro spent the entire day at the emergency clinic, receiving fluids and medications and having ultrasounds done. Yujiro showed no interest in eating and continued to be lethargic. They suggested he continue his stay throughout the night.

January 22nd: We received a call from the vet at the emergency clinic. After reviewing the ultrasounds, she informed us that a 4cm-6cm mass was found on our baby's liver. Liver cancer. She let us know we could get a second opinion, but they were comfortable saying it. She said that we could get the tumor removed, which is incredibly risky for his age and probably not effective, or we could have him euthanized that night. Something told me this wasn't right, and I told her we would be picking him up in the morning to go to another hospital.

January 23rd: I picked up Yujiro from the clinic and drove him to

a university veterinary hospital. They reviewed the documentation and assured me they would run their own tests and have experts properly assess them. That afternoon we were told that not only did he not have liver cancer, but there was no mass on the liver. What was making Yujiro sick was his giant swollen gallbladder, something that two other hospitals had not seen. It is called Gallbladder Mucocele. This vet suggested that we drive to LSU Veterinary School to have board-certified surgeons perform the necessary emergency surgery, as they would be his best chance. That night, we loaded him up and drove the 5 hours to LSU.

January 24th: I received a call from the first-year surgical resident who would be operating on Yujiro. She said she was optimistic, though carefully cautious about his prognosis. He was stable and had no health problems (aside from arthritis), so his chances were good. She told me he would be the major surgery of the day, and she would call me when he was about to be put under anesthesia. At 2 PM, we got that call. The vet told us that no news was good news and that the next call would be if there were complications or the surgery was a success, and he was waking up. Finally, after a painfully long wait, at 8 PM, we got the call that his surgery went great! Miraculously, Yujiro had been suffering with a necrotic (dead) gallbladder and his body created a thick outer cell wall around it to hold the bile in and keep it from seeping out into his abdomen which could have led to sepsis.

More info here: https://www.merckvetmanual.com/digestive-system/hepatic-disease-in-small-animals/cholecystitis-in-small-animals#:~:text=Necrotizing%20cholecystitis%20requires%20prompt%20surgical,episodic%2C%20and%20hyperbilirubinemia%20is%20inconsistent.

January 25th - January 27th: Each day was spent recovering, with the vet students diligently working on getting him walking, eating and easing down his IV pain medications. They were extremely good about calling us periodically to let us know how he was and giving us as much information as we wanted. Yujiro has gotten better and better each day and we are hopeful that this means many more years with him.