During Hurricane Ike, Baron (a 12 year old Flat Coat Retriever) began to experience back pain and severely reduced mobility. He began a steroid treatment for his back, but appeared to slowly decline otherwise, in particular slowly losing weight despite a continued healthy appetite. We had a series of vet visits from mid-September to early October, but could not pinpoint a cause of his weight loss, even after the steroid treatment concluded.

I awoke Sunday morning, October 12th, and Baron’s condition had severely declined during the night. His gums were pale, his breathing was labored and he was extremely lethargic. I rushed him to VERGI and the team that did his screening exam was equally concerned. Dr. Hartley was his examining physician and after several tests, it was still unclear what was causing his condition. Despite the inconclusive test results, Dr. Hartley was convinced that Baron had swallowed a foreign object.

It took a couple of days and a blood transfusion for Baron to become stable enough to tolerate an exploratory endoscopy. Thankfully, Dr. Hartley was persistent in her pursuit of the cause of Baron’s illness, even returning to VERGI on her day off to continue analyzing his case. The endoscopy procedure evolved into stomach surgery when it was apparent that he did in fact have a gastric foreign object. During surgery, Dr. Dixon removed a hand towel from Baron’s stomach. It was amazing that he had been able to eat anything at all. VERGI then began treatment to address the ulcerations caused by the foreign object and his condition soon stabilized. It is still a mystery as to where he found the towel and when he consumed it, as I am not missing one, but perhaps it was something that blew into the yard during Ike.

Both Baron’s regular vet and VERGI continued to support his ongoing treatment and recovery. Subsequent to his stomach surgery, VERGI diagnosed Baron as also suffering from a difficult to identify parasite, likely something he acquired during his prior weakened condition, and developed an intensive treatment plan to resolve that issue as well.

Thanks to the team at VERGI, Baron celebrated his 13th birthday in February. He is maintaining a healthy weight, is doing very well and happily retrieving his “toy” again. I am grateful to Dr. Noaker and her entire team, not only for their excellent care of Baron, but for their kindness throughout the entire process and their patience with all of my questions. It is clear that everyone at VERGI is dedicated to their mission and wants the best for their patients and families. I will no doubt fail to mention one or more members of the team that was involved in Baron’s treatment and ongoing care, but thank you to Dr. Hartley, Stephanie, Skye, Dr. Dixon, Dr. Mikoloski (and Angel), Dr. Seely, Dr. Cornelius, Dr. Southerland, Dr. Mouradian, Crystal, Kathleen, Betty Rose and Dr. Noaker.

Thank You,
Lila and Baron

Update Baron has passed on to the Rainbow Bridge at the age of fourteen.