Puppy love
Dog owner would rather part with $14,000 than cherished canine, who needed life-saving surgery at the Atlantic Veterinary College
Tiffany Jones could not walk away from Daisy.
The bond is beyond tight between the Kingston, P.E.I., woman and her English bull terrier -- a compact, 50-pound puppy that was eight weeks old when Jones travelled to New York to purchase her pet from a breeder.
“She’s a character. She’s absolutely brilliant,’’ says Jones, simply gushing over her cherished canine companion.
“She’s just bright and happy and eager. She loves treats. She loves toys. She’s a pretty great little dog. She’s happy and she’s cute – full of personality and loves people.’’
No humans live with Jones on her small farm of chickens and cows. None are needed as the bull terrier Daisy and a seven-year-old deaf Great Dane named Magnum provide Jones with a tremendous wealth of warm, constant companionship.
In return, the dogs receive meticulous care, attention, pampering and nurturing.
“They’re my best friends. They’re my beach buddies,’’ says Jones.
“I wake up to them in the morning… they’re the faces that meet me when I come home from work. I don’t know what I would do without them. You lean on them and vice versa. There is something about dogs – they are so trusting.’’
Jones was not willing to let go of that special connection with Daisy when faced with a dire situation after the dog swallowed a bone on June 7.
The jagged tartar bone, measuring 3-cm thick and 5-cm wide, was perilously lodged in Daisy’s esophagus, right under the aorta – pretty much the worst possible spot.
Veterinarians at the Atlantic Veterinary College told Jones getting the bone out would be a very expensive and challenging proposition – costing her roughly $10,000 or more – with no guarantee Daisy would survive.
Such a hefty vet bill would be a major financial hit to Jones, who earns a modest income milking 120 cows a day, seven days a week, for a nearby dairy farmer.
Losing Daisy, on the other hand, would be crushing.
“The initial thing was I just can’t put her down,’’ recalls Jones.
“So, if you can’t do one, you’ve got to do the other.’’
Jones gave the green light for the vets to go to work.
The task would prove considerable, notes Dr. Shelly Shamir, the assistant surgeon who worked on Daisy.
First, determined efforts were made by veterinarians with AVC’s medicine service to pull the bone out with a scope. That did not work.
Second, attempts were made to push the bone into Daisy’s stomach where it could digest. That effort was called off concern the esophagus would be torn thus threatening Daisy’s life.
That left the far less desirable – and extremely delicate – option of making an incision just above the esophagus to try to get at the bone.
Six people were involved in the operation, including a surgical team consisting of faculty surgeon Dr. Peter Moak, Shamir, Dr. Diana Shum and fourth-year veterinarian student Maia Courtenay. An anesthesia team of two rounded out the crew.
“Everyone had a very important role to play…all of us had both hands being used,’’ said Shamir.
The surgery took six hours. Most time-consuming was the roughly two-and-a-half hours spent closing Daisy’s esophagus, which tore while the bone was being removed.
“In terms of how careful we had to be, it was very, very difficult,’’ says Shamir.
Even though the surgery was deemed a success, the veterinarians felt Daisy only had about a 50 per cent of surviving.
Fortunately, she has been mending well and appears to be on the road to recovery.
“She’s very lucky to have come through this so well,’’ says Shamir.
“I think she’s a miracle because when we walked away from that surgery we were not very optimistic of how it looked.’’
Today, adds Shamir, Daisy is “way past’’ life-threatening complications.
Daisy, who turns one on Tuesday, will be on a feeding tube for at least two months and will need constant, attentive care.
Shamir believes Jones is well up to the task.
“I think she is a very dedicated owner,’’ she says.
“She’s a very fantastic person… she’s very committed.’’
Returning home with Daisy on Thursday, June 21, Jones smiled the entire drive to Kingston from the small animal vet clinic in Charlottetown.
Now she turns her attention to a vet bill that currently hovers around $14,000, close to half her annual salary.
Casey Wagner has gotten an online fundraising campaign started for her friend Jones with $1,500 raised to date.
“Tiffany always puts her furry family members first,’’ says Wagner, “and this kind of expense is more than even the most dedicated pet owner can shoulder on their own.’’
Donations can be made at https://www.gofundme.com/ daisys-huge-vet-bill.
Jones realizes some people – perhaps many – would shake their head over a person of limited means taking on such a large debt for the sake of a dog.
She would rather live with harsh criticism than live without Daisy.
“You make a commitment to the dog,’’ she says.
“She has a great future ahead of her. I don’t see how you really can do anything else.’’