Raleigh

Baby Raleigh began life as the well-loved puppy of a local family. Unfortunately that love did not extend to "in sickness and in health" for when they found out there was something wrong with Raleigh; they surrendered him to MSR even before a diagnosis was made.

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Raleigh entered Rescue on October 27, 2005 weighing less than 5 pounds at 14 weeks old. Although his illness was not yet diagnosed, he presented with classic symptoms of a liver shunt that causes blood to flow AROUND rather than THROUGH the liver. This congenital defect or condition would continue to cause deterioration of his liver and eventually death (in as few as 5 years) if not corrected.

When he came to us, Raleigh did little more than sleep all day. When he did venture out of his puppy pen, he would circle endlessly, stumble, fall and run into walls. Raleigh drooled a lot and didn’t have much of an appetite. After taking him to Dr Scott Davis at Vista Pet Hospital for testing that would confirm the suspected liver shunt, we changed is diet and cared for him as prescribed. Within days Raleigh was acting like the spirited 14 week old he should be. He romped and rassled with his 2 Papillion foster sisters, his Lab-mix foster brother and, of course, the cat. For the first time, Raleigh experienced the joy a squeaky toy can bring and the pleasure of a good meal followed by a nap.

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Because the surgical correction of the liver shunt would be quite expensive (about $3000 when all the pre and post-operative care was considered), Rescue had to seriously consider whether or not we could take this on. Certainly our hearts wanted to, we just weren’t sure whether our budget could handle it.

After discussing the medical options and Raleigh's prognosis with the specialist and looking at how we could raise some of the funds, we made the emotional and financial commitment to help Raleigh. We'd had previous experience with liver shunt surgery that was successful and the Dr doing the surgery was the best in the northwest.

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Many people in Rescue were involved in the decision and the commitment to Raleigh – how would we pay for it? "I’ll help raise money," several volunteers said. Who will foster him for that long? "I will," said a foster mom. Who will start him in puppy classes when he's able? "I will," said another. How are we going to get him to all his appointments? "I can help transport," said yet another. We knew it would be tough financially with many logistical and practical issues yet to be worked out. Raleigh would likely be in foster care for another 3-4 months but this beautiful, well tempered innocent boy certainly deserved the chance for a full life.

The big day came, November 17th, time for Raleigh's surgery. A mid-afternoon call from the Dr soothed our nerves. Raleigh had done well in surgery. He did have two different shunts that had to be corrected but he was in recovery and everything looked great. What a difference a couple of hours can make . . .

We knew the immediate 24 hours after surgery were the hours that complications were most likely to develop if they were to develop at all. A short time after surgery, the Dr called to tell us that Raleigh's belly was distended and he seemed to be bleeding internally. We authorized that she take Raleigh back to surgery. Within 30 minutes she was back on the phone to tell us that the bleeding was uncontrollable from portal hypertension. At this point, we could not let Raleigh bleed to death on the operating table. The only thing to do now was multiple transfusions while they tried to stop the bleeding and the Dr was doubtful that would even help. Through many tears, we told the Dr that we had to let Raleigh go.

Raleigh died in peace, late in the afternoon of November 17, 2005.

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Some might say we were foolish to make that kind of investment in a Rescue dog. But in the month we had Raleigh in our care, we saw him change from a lethargic, underdeveloped and under socialized sick puppy into a spirited, happy, playful, yappy little Schnauzer. All of us at MSR are so proud to have been able to give him our best effort and 3 wonderful weeks, happy to be a puppy.

Raleigh broke our hearts but we would still make the same decisions about his care and any of the other dogs entrusted to us. Farewell Raleigh; you will stay in our hearts forever.

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