If there's one thing that comes with having pets at home, it's the ability to know them so well that you simply know when something's wrong with them. Like Charlie's owners after noticing him somewhat down for a couple of days.
Not only had this 10-year-old chihuahua been acting unusually, but his abdomen had swollen to the point where it was obvious he needed help. Wasting no time, he visited DogLover Animal Hospital.
After learning that Charlie had recently eaten a chicken bone, we figured the problem would be a foreign body in the abdomen wreaking havoc, but when we ran tests this is what we found. Such a large mass indicated it was something worse than we imagined, and even made us think that one of Charlie's organs had a large tumor.
The race against time began the next day, when Charlie turned very pale and his blood tests revealed severe anemia. An ultrasound done immediately after indicated that there was indeed a mass in the spleen, and the anemia was due to internal bleeding from it. It was time for a high-risk surgery!
Charlie's only option was to be taken into the operating room to perform a blood transfusion and have his spleen surgically removed with great care. Emergency surgeries like this always come with great risks, so we take every possible precaution when working. Fortunately, we managed to remove Charlie's spleen without complications. Indeed, the tissue was very altered and there was the presence of multiple hemorrhages, but we had arrived on time!
During the following days Charlie got back his normal color and rested a lot to recover from his operation, until very soon we were able to discharge him. He then returned home, where he belongs, along with his owner who told us shortly after that he was as if nothing had happened.
"He's eating a lot and he's grumpy again," to be more specific. Chihuahua stuff.