Unusual surgery saves Edmond hound
Basketball-size clot slowed dog
JOHN WILLIAMS
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Published: July 9, 2009
EDMOND — Pepper, a 9-year-old hound dog, has been given a third chance at life.
Thanks to the Edmond veterinarian who performed a 3½ hour surgery to remove a 15-pound blood clot, Pepper is back at home barking at the city’s sanitation trucks.
Pepper’s owner,
Sherri Ellis, brought the dog to
Dr. Donna Woods at the
Danforth Animal Hospital two weeks ago when she suspected something was wrong with her pet.
An X-ray showed Pepper had an enormous hematoma, or blood clot, growing on her spleen.
"When I saw it on the X-ray, I wondered how is this dog still alive and eating,” Woods said.
"I just thought I had a fat dog,” Ellis said.
"I’m not exaggerating when I say it was the size of a basketball.”
Woods said the blood clot was causing the animal discomfort.
"It wasn’t causing her any problems except it was pressing on her other organs and causing her to get more arthritis in her back,” the veterinarian said.
Ellis said she saved up for Pepper’s surgery. She wouldn’t say how much the surgery cost.
Woods said she had never performed a procedure this intricate.
"This is the biggest mass I’ve ever removed, and my boss said it’s probably a record for the clinic,” she said. "It’s was very exhausting work. There are tons of blood vessels stuck to the spleen. I had to deal with it one blood vessel at a time.”
Woods’ greyhound provided blood so Pepper could get a transfusion.
Pepper and two litter mates started life being tossed in a bag and thrown in the garbage. Two sanitation workers found them and left them by the side of the road. Only Pepper was able to make the one-mile walk through the woods to Ellis’s home between Guthrie and Edmond.
"She’s a tough gal,” Ellis said. "She’s been through a lot, but she’s able to wiggle when she walks again.”
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