How much money would you spend?

[chow57chow]

This is from Walking in Circles, Harley Girl's dad. I am having such a hard time with my loss as she was a child to me. Chows accept you as no others can. They chose you as much as you choose them. I am coming to terms with my loss, though it will be a long while. I am so sorry for you. I am realizing that someday another chow will want and need me. Not to replace Harley Girl but to save them from a possible bad owner. I treated all my chows as chowdren. It is not the money, it is the quality of life for them. I waited a little to long as I hoped we could win the fight, but Harley Girl quit eating and drinking. I could have forced her but I had to be strong and let her go play with my parents and past dogs. We can all play with them again soon. Tears everywhere. Ron, Harley Girl's choice of a dad. Can't see to go on. Best of luck!

[chow57chow]

I wrote to you all but it came up in a new post, same title. Sorry I'm computer illiterate. Best of luck, chow57chow, Harley' Girl's dad.

[Sara & Frank]

We lost our 9 year old Chow (Onyx) to cancer a little less than 4 years ago and I still feel the need to hug him at night before I go to bed. I know we have Scotti and Kippi but without Onyx there still seems to be a void. I can handle death from old age better than premature death and one that was so bravely fought.
They say "you can't take it with you when your gone." Well, we have our pets cremated and when we go they will go with us.

When you mentioned "I am realizing that someday another chow will want and need me." reminds me of something Doris Day said.

"People sometimes say, “Oh, Miss Day, I can’t take another animal, I just can’t replace my darling little dog.” Many people, when they lose their pet, can’t face getting another. I felt like that once, and then I realized my baby would understand, and would want me to give a home to another animal. I want people to know they’re not replacing the one they lost. They’re giving another wonderful little soul a home. I’ve done this over and over again, and have never regretted it. I’ve only been rewarded."

Hang in there Ron.

[Sara & Frank]

In the past two weeks we've noticed Scotti tolerating less and less oral food so we took him in for some tests.
A barium swallow was done and it looks like we are in for stent number two!
It's the middle stricture this time. They told us the first stricture and the last stricture seem to be fixed.
We kind of had a feeling this would be the case but hoped we could get lucky and avoid another surgery.
Scotti was a champ and with the exception of a little upset tummy from the barium, he loved the trip.

We'll keep all of you posted.
I think we are getting close to getting this thing whupped!
No tubes, no syringes, no t-shirts, no blender, ...... just our little hairy pup......boy that sounds so nice.

[Sirchow]

I just hope and pray that this will be the last op for Scotti and like you say he can be a "normal" chow and eat the regular way. It would be wonderful if this one fixed things for him. Hugs to the wonderful patient Scotti.

[chowpups]

I hope you have the best of luck on this surgery and hopefully Scotti will come home with flying colors this time. Bless you for your patience and care of your sweet companion and pet.

[chow57chow]

So glad to here Scotti is doing better. He has had a hard fight and you too had some rough scares. Sounds like it was well worth it. There is no amount of money that is too much as we all have only one shot at this game of life. Every day is precious and every second counts. Give him and all your pets a big hug and scratch. Wish I had a few more days with Harley Girl, But when she was here I would play with her and scratch her till she was wore out. Enjoy every moment. Ron

[CoraP.]

I wish Scotti the best. It would be great if he could eat normally again!

[Sara & Frank]

Well, things don’t always go the way we hope they will.
The stent is still on order and we had a setback this weekend.
Scotti started to bleed from his feeding tube site. It was a little disturbing because it appeared all the sudden.
We had an endoscopy done and discovered the feeding tube had disconnected from his stomach.
No real damage (thank God) but he had to have a new tube placed in a new location. The old tube site is going to close up on its own.
Here is the upsetting part… no food for up to 48 hours!
All together it could be 3 days from his last meal before we can feed him again.
I feel so sorry for him.

[kingalls]

Scotti is such a trooper.

[Swerve]

Poor scottie, going to give winston a big hug for him.

[CoraP.]

My goodness...Scotti has been through so much! I hope you finally get a break soon. As always, my best wishes to you and Scotti!

[Sara & Frank]

Scotti had his stent placed Thursday. The operation went well and we are hoping the results turn out as good as the first stent did.
They took a different approach to the suturing this time. This made it a much quicker surgery but a little more evasive.
There are a few concerns ..... "stent migration", sutures holding and new stricture formation at the end of the stent. Because this is such new territory for the veterinary world we are keeping our fingers crossed. They seem optimistic but admit their uncertainty.
I truly hope none of you ever have to have your pet go through this type of operation. It is very difficult to watch the discomfort the first 3-4 days. The panic in poor Scotti's eyes yesterday was heart breaking. Acepromazine (tranquilizer) seems to take the edge off the panic but really knocks him out. I think he is getting a little annoyed with me checking on him all the time. The acepromazine makes him moody. If I had to go through this crap I would be moody too.

Maybe he'll feel like going on a little walk tomorrow.

[Sirchow]

Scotti's plight makes the tears run down my face when I read your posts. Poor boy he is going through so much. I really hope that this might be a real step forward for him. I cant even imagine how you manage all this financially or emotionally. It must have taken a huge toll on your lives. Hugs to you all.

[Auddymay]

You are the best Chowrents a Scotti boy could have. If he had been with any other family, he would no longer be here. Despite the trials and tribulations, Scotti has mostly kept his good cheer. Keep up the fine work. Hopefully, this is the beginning of the end to procedures.

[Sara & Frank]

One step forward one step back….
Very strange events have happened in the last few weeks. The new stent was causing some major discomfort and Scotti was miserable. We took him in last week and found the lower esophagus had rolled up into the stent. The stent was removed but Scotti didn’t improve. He was salivating and hacking up large amounts of clear fluid (saliva). The good news is HE CAN NOW EAT!!!! He ate like our old Scotti and was excited about dinner time again. We were like kids with a new toy, “see if he can eat this!” However the salivation and regurgitation of clear fluid continued. Tuesday we went back to the hospital and had some barium test done. It seems we now have the opposite problem, before he could drink water and swallow saliva but not food, now food passes to the stomach but water and saliva have difficulty moving to the stomach and build up in his esophagus until he hacks it up. They call this a “motility disorder”. Blood test are being done to rule out a few things but it is very bazaar that in February his esophagus motility was good and strong and now it just works on solid food.
It was a year on April 24 that we started down this road. Wow! One year! Looking at our records he averaged two surgeries a month. Poor little guy, all he has gone through and he is still a happy puppy.
He could really use a measure of good luck about right now.

We’ll keep ya’ll posted.

[Coco Chow]

I know you love Scotti very very much and that you are doing everything imaginable to save his life.

Would it be inapropriate for me to ask you this:
Would you consider at any point to let Scotti go at all?

As you said he's had an average of 2 surgeries a month for a whole year and from what you say he's not comfortable so I was just wondering... I hope you don't mind me asking.

Wishing you all the best,
Elodie

[Sara & Frank]

Thanks Elodie, I understand why you would ask that.

It's difficult to explain the entire situation with out going into great detail but like Scotti's doctors said at the beginning, his condition is very unusual. It's not an ordinary stricture case.
We know that pets get these esophageal strictures from anesthesia and most of them are put down immediately because the owner doesn't have the time and money to try to fix the problem. We have always felt that our pets are family, our kids, our responsibility, and just like any of our loved ones we will be there for them.
Quality of life is the number one concern for us. In fact that is the reason we decided to proceed with a solution. We could have stopped and fed Scotti through his PEG tube the rest of his life but we knew that's just not natural for a dog or a person, but there was a potential for Scotti to eat on his own again. With each procedure we learn something new about how to treat this type of problem, but as you can see, it's been a year and we still aren't there. We and Scotti's doctors are extremely optimistic that this is heading in the right direction. None of us want Scotti to have to be feed by a feeding tube the rest of his life. With that said let me clear a few things up. The surgeries were done in a way that gave Scotti multiple months of down time. He would have a procedure every week for a month then he had 2 months rest at times. He has only had two evasive surgery the others were done with an endoscopes via his mouth.
Believe me I know how it sounds from our postings and we are not trying to sugar coat it. It has been tough. He has gone through a great deal of pain and we have spent many nights on the floor with him and cried after every set back, but he is not a candidate for euthanasia. (We are strong supporters of euthanasia even for humans.) Every doctor, every intern and all our friends and family says he is such a happy dog. The discomfort I just posted about was from the stent and it was removed. From what we can tell he will not need anymore surgeries of any kind. (we hope.) The esophagus is clear but for some odd reason the motility has stopped when it comes to liquids.

So to answer you original question......
Would you consider at any point to let Scotti go at all?
Yes. When it's time.

I hope this kind of puts this all in a better perspective for everyone. It all comes down to our pets are truly our family and we do for them as we do for all of our loved ones.


One last thing that Sara wanted me to add....
The surgeries Scotti has been going through are done at a major University by a very well know veterinarian and professor of veterinary medicine. The things that they have learned from this past 6 months from Scotti has allowed them to make great advancements in these types of illnesses. We fill Scotti is a pioneer of sorts for not only veterinary medicine but humans as well.

[VIOLET315]

how is scotti now?

[Sara & Frank]

Thanks for asking Violet, you have great timing!
We have our tubeless, shirtless hair ball again!!!!!!
The PEG tube was removed a few days ago and what a reaction we received from little Scotti!
He bounced around the vets office like a puppy. "Free at last!"
He has been such a good boy through all of this. Every time we needed to change his bandages or clothes he would willingly sit or lay down and just let us do what we needed to do then get up and be his happy little self. His attitude has made this whole process much easier.
As for his eating, he's doing great! We have to feed him about 3-4 small meals a day. Feeding too fast or too much at one setting will cause regurgitation but we are getting the regimen down and truly love seeing him eat again.
As you can see from the photos below the only sign of this entire ordeal is the small hole mark that will eventually be hidden by his fur.
We can't stop running our hands all over his body and laughing and smiling.
Life is getting back to normal and is so good right now!

[VIOLET315]

wonderful!!!!!!! how old is he? i don't know how to post pictures but he looks very much like my 15 yr old princess. God bless

[Sara & Frank]

Scotti turned 4 in February.
He has matured a lot in the past year but like most chows the puppy still emerges from time to time.

[VIOLET315]

any updates on scotti? he looks alot like my princess

[Sara & Frank]

Sorry for my slow response, it’s been busy around here.
Scotti is doing great. He still has a few issues with certain types of foods and will have to take omeprazole (prilosec) from now on but he has adapted well and is a very happy boy. It’s such a joy to see him eat and he really loves to eat!
After all that Scotti has been through I hope the remainder of his life is wonderful and uneventful, with the exception of the occasional rabbit or possum to spice up his life.
When I get time I’ll post some pictures in the Photos section.

Regards
Frank & Sara

[Sirchow]

Hi, I dont come here often anymore but when I did I was sooooo pleased to see your post. I have always had a soft spot for Scotti and am absolutely delighted to hear he is making such good progress. Long may it continue and as you say I wish a nice uneventful life for him from now on.