We received the following post yesterday from our veterinarian, Dr. Laurie, and wanted to pass it along to you. Thanks to everyone who have sent messages of comfort and sympathy. We are grateful.
The best thing about being a ”small town”
veterinarian is that we get to know our patients and their families so
well. The worst thing about about being a small town veterinarian is
losing one of our young patients unexpectedly.
Bella was the beloved companion of Tom and Shelley, and she even had her own blog about Belize – (go to bellainbelize.blogspot.com).
A 6 lb, three year-old Maltese, we first met her when she came in one
day for grooming. When she left that day she looked so adorable with
her new haircut and pink bow that she became famous. Every owner that
came in with a Maltese for grooming after her said, “Please groom her
and make her look just like that other Maltese I see around town named
Bella!”
When she came in with urinary problems it was
discovered that her bladder was full of bladder stones. In a female
dog this is rarely a serious problem, but for Bella, likely due to her
exceptionally small size, it became very serious as her urinary tract
became obstructed and she was unable to urinate the day of her surgery.
Even now we do not know if her problem was a tiny stone lodged within
her urethra or if it was scar tissue which had built up over time. But
whatever the cause Bella had to undergo two surgeries before we were
able to clear the obstruction enough for her to urinate normally again.
Her urinary tract disease was so severe that I recommended that she go
to the United States to a specialty hospital where her urinary tract
could be properly evaluated using a scope, a procedure called
cystoscopy. As this was not a reasonable course of action for her
owners we did our best for Bella, but she developed what appeared to be
peritonitis, a severe inflammation of her abdominal cavity which
eventually took her life.
From the very beginning Bella was such a
tolerant patient. Allowing us to draw blood without squirming and
cooperating with all her procedures despite all of the discomfort she
was in from her urinary obstruction. She was a fighter and she did not
succumb to her disease until five days after her second surgery.
Veterinarians lose patients often compared to
our counterparts, doctors with human patients. But ask any committed
veterinarian and they will tell you that there are certain losses that
haunt us. Sometimes it may be because of an error in judgement that was
made. Sometimes there was no error, but we wonder had we done things
differently would there have been a different outcome. And sometimes,
as with Bella, even though we did our very best it just wasn’t
good enough. I think that Bella is a patient I will remember for a very
long time.
All of us at San Pedro Animal Hospital would
like to send our heartfelt sympathies to Bella’s family and friends, and
especially Tom and Shelley who have been devastated by her loss. We
know that she touched so many lives, and thanks to the internet and
Tom’s blog, she reached people all around the world and taught them
about our little country of Belize.
There are millions of us dog lovers out there who understand that your loss was much more than just a little white dog.