HIDDEN PROBLEM

Mia is a young and very sweet boxer who always brings her squeaky toys with her to the office.  She was scheduled for a routine spay when she was just a few months old.  She had absolutely no outward signs of the condition brewing within.  Luckiily, her mom opted to have pre-anesthetic bloodwork run on her very bouncy and happy girl prior to surgery.  Dr. Amanda Jones was so surprised by the blood results that she repeated them.  When the results were the same, she then made a blood smear and confirmed the results microscopically herself.

 

There was no denying it: Mia had life-threatening thrombocytopenia.  This is a condition where the body attacks and kills its own platelets, essential elements in the blood that cause proper clotting.  Without enough platelets, a person or pet can easily bleed to death from a minor injury.  Mia's platelet count was a mere 2% of the normal value!

Mia's surgery was post-poned for several months while she was on medications to boost her platelet values.  Her blood condition is now in remission and this summer, Mia was successfully spayed with no problems.  Just recently, Mia sustained a fractured leg in a freak accident and had to have another surgery.  She recovered from surgery with plenty of platelets to spare!

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HOUSEBOUND NOW AND HAPPY!

Bonita Hi, my name is Bonita.  I'm a year-old gal and one day I escaped to the outside and got hit by a car.  And I do mean HIT!  When my mom found me I had head trauma and didn't even know who I was.  After several days of intensive care, my head was better, but the rest of me was still very broken. I had a broken jaw that the doctor wired and I had to have a feeding tube because I wasn't hungry and didn't eat for over a week!  I also had a broken femur which had to have skin taken from my side and grafted onto my front leg.  Now all the hair on my leg grows in a funny direction!  To top things off, I broke my canine tooth and had to have it removed! I spent about six weeks in the hospital, but now I'm whole again and living happily with my family.  Mom says I can't go outside anymore.

 

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SURPRISING BLOOD CONDITION

Minnie My mom says I'm so ugly, I'm cute!  I'm also lucky to be alive.  You see, when I was a little girl of eight weeks old, I almost died because my blood was like water.  One day, I collapsed.  My mom tookd me to Wintergreen Animal Hospital where I had to have a blood transfusion and lots of other medicine.  Almost immediately after getting my new blood I felt better and now my family calls me "Minnie the Monster"!  Moral of the story, I wish my canine mom had proper prenatal care.