Surgery for Koala

In September of 2018 we decided to rescue Koala (lovingly and exclusively referred to, now, as Bitsy) from The Humane Society. When we initially brought him home he was a sleepy quiet pup, opposite from our other puppy (who is absolutely WILD). After about a month, we realized that Bitsy wasn’t growing into his paws, was getting sick more often than not, and was extremely lethargic.


After expressing our concern, our vet started running tests. We endured weeks of negative testing or inconclusive findings, before finally discovering that our Bitsy bean was showing signs of poor liver function. We were directed to a specialty center where he received an ultrasound and some xrays. It turns out that Bitsy has a very large intrahepatic liver shunt. This condition is responsible for causing Bitsy’s neurological behavior (abnormal/seizure like activity and endless pacing), stunted growth, and severe lethargy, etc. In addition to his shunt, he also has an unidentifiable mass/organ in his abdominal area that has a cyst on it and also suffers from an ear margin condition that, if left unmedicated, causes the edges of his ears to flake away because he does not get enough blood circulation to them. 

He is a lemon of a puppy, but he is our lemon.


His liver shunt condition is currently stable with specialty food and medication (which has helped to alleviate his initial symptoms of lethargy and neurological behavior), however, very few dogs with his specific condition make it past their first year from diagnosis if they do not receive surgical intervention. If he defies the odds of survival, without surgery he will never have a high energy level, will never experience delight in sneaking some pieces of meat from our plates without getting violently ill, and he will never be able to do things at “normal” pace because he is neurologically affected.


In despite of his insane health issues and him tiring quite quickly, he is a-lot-a-sassy and has shown such will to live. He tries with all of his might to keep up with his crazy big brother and even musters enough spunk to “boof boof” at the kitty here and there. Because he has such life in him (and because of the improvements he has shown with his liver diet and medications), we cannot in good conscience put him down. We could not bear a day without seeing hims (yes, hims) big goofy animated ears or his hysterically charming underbite that prevents him from keeping his tongue in his mouth most of the time. We owe him a full life filled with love and happiness. 


UC Davis is one of the only places around us that can perform a surgery that would be able to block and kill Bitsy’s shunt, allowing him a shot at leading a happy, normal, and full life. However, after inquiring we learned that the surgery itself can cost up to 14,000 dollars and that does not include any additional tests that they may want to run prior to the surgery regarding his shunt or his mass.


We humbly ask for help, even if it’s by simply sharing Bitsy’s story. For anyone interested in Bitsy’s life updates and his silly little grin, we’ve made him an Instagram, koalathebitsyheeler.





Thank you for reading.