Capri Sanders
If you think you’ve got a problem child, then you haven’t met Capri Sanders!
On June 20, 2008, The Sanders’ family brought home a tiny, black-coated poodle puppy; she was a happy addition to their family who was soon named Capri. The Sanders’ had previously owned poodles that lived long happy lives without ever needing pet insurance. This time around something told the family it might be a good idea to sign up, “just in case”. At that time they had no reason to believe that they would ever use the insurance, but came to discover just how invaluable the service was and how much it would help through all the trials and tribulations they would soon face with Capri.
Dr. Johnson examined Capri at Clarkson Village Animal Hospital shortly after she had moved into her new home because she was experiencing soft stool. After the examination, her family was given instructions to help her, as digestive upset is not an uncommon occurrence, and is generally cleared up quite easily with a diet change and medication. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Capri and her condition only worsened over the following days and weeks, and in addition to soft stools she was now vomiting. It was time to run some blood tests.
The blood test results came back more complicated than expected. Capri’s liver enzymes were increased; she had low blood protein and she was anemic (a low red blood cell count). We treated her at our hospital with supportive care and antibiotics and the next step was to evaluate her liver function by doing a bile acid test. The bile acids were exceptionally high - about ten times any normal value. With these results Dr. Johnson concluded she was heading into serious liver failure, and needed to be evaluated further.
Capri needed to see an internal medicine specialist, and her family decided on Dr. Norris at the Veterinary Referral Clinic in Toronto. A portal systemic shunt and an abnormally small liver were discovered. Surgery was recommended to try to fix the shunt. In a normal dog, blood flow comes from the gut and after absorbing nutrients it goes straight to the liver for processing before going to the rest of the body. With Capri there was an abnormal blood vessel allowing unprocessed blood from the gut to bypass the liver and go straight to the rest of the body. This means her body couldn’t process her nutrients and her liver can’t work properly due to the abnormal blood flow.
On July 30, 2008 Capri had an exploratory laparotomy. The surgery was relatively risky and her prognosis was unknown. During the surgery, the specialist put an ameroid constrictor around the abnormal blood vessel to slowly stop blood flow. Now that we had the abnormal blood supply cut off the liver could return to a more healthy state. During her surgery Capri received a blood transfusion, and had two more post-operatively. The good news was that she made it through the surgery; the rest was up to her. She stayed in the intensive care unit for 7 days while recovering.
As of September, Capri was doing well, her liver blood work was improving and ultrasound allowed us to see that her liver was growing. Unfortunately, Capri started to strain while urinating, didn’t want to eat, and the vomiting returned. Sigh! Along with the staff here at Clarkson Village Animal Hospital, I’m sure the Sanders’ began to wonder if it would ever end?
Capri found herself back at the Veterinary Referral Clinic to have tests on her urine. Capri was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and treated with antibiotics. As soon as the treatment was complete, she began to strain again. This kept happening despite several months of antibiotics. Several urine tests, and an ultrasound of her bladder was performed. Capri again went back to the Veterinary Referral Clinic in Toronto for surgery to examine her bladder, and to collect tissue samples of the bladder wall.
In late November 2008, Mrs. Sanders brought Capri in to have her eye checked, as it seemed a little red and irritated. Capri had another problem to add to her list, conjunctivitis secondary to entropion. Entropion is a condition where a patient’s eyelid rolls inward and creates an abnormal conformation of the lid. With the lid rolling inward, Capri’s fur was rubbing against her eye, causing irritation. This meant Capri had to have yet another anaesthetic to surgically correct the eyelid. Two weeks before Christmas, Capri came to Clarkson Village Animal Hospital for the procedure. The sedative agents we use to make our patients drowsy before surgery can sometimes make them vomit; Capri was no exception to this rule. However, the contents of her stomach were different from most…Capri brought up knee high panty hose! Only Capri!! Had she not vomited this little surprise, she could have run into major problems -such as gastro-intestinal obstruction requiring risky and critical surgical excision.
The Sanders’ are very happy with Capri and would have consented to all of her treatments regardless of whether or not they had pet insurance. During a conversation about Capri with Mrs. Sanders, she said “even though she knew early on that Capri was very sick, she just couldn’t give up her”. The part of this story that may be even more amazing than Capri’s problems is the unconditional love and faith her family had for her through it all.
Although she’s almost a year old, Capri is finally able to be a puppy! She is playful and vibrant despite the endless list of procedures.
