Mikki

Mikki, age 1

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Updated 10/15/11

Updated 10/11/11

“She's just a normal fun-loving young dog.”

We couldn’t ask for better news than that! Four months after her surgery, Mikki is on top of the world and loving life as just another typical teenage Golden… or almost. She does still take the inexpensive drug Proin twice a day to tighten up her muscles. “She still dribbles occasionally—I think,” says her foster dad. “But it's hard to tell since she is also a sloppy drinker and dribbles from her mouth after drinking, so there are always drops all over the floor! But in any event, she is SO MUCH better. And she is housetrained & will ask to  go outside.”

Mikki loves to play "chase me" with her older foster Golden pals by running high-speed loops around the separate office/workshop in the backyard. But for such an active girl, she is pretty calm in the house and pretty good on lead—a little wayward, but not a twenty-mule-team puller. She’s even getting better about jumping up! And she’s crate-trained & snoozes peacefully through the night in her crate.

“Mikki has been really good with mama Rainbow and the Baby Litter from our West Texas puppy mill rescue. She seems to be enjoying being the big sister, and is interested in the pupniks, although I don't let her contact them yet.”
 
Adorable, lively Mikki would do great in an active home with another fairly peppy young dog as a playmate.

Updated 8/30/11

Mikki is ready to go to her forever home! It’s been just over 6 weeks since her surgery, and she’s doing great. She has started on Proin to strengthen her sphincter muscles: “It’s helping,” says her foster dad. “She still leaks occasionally, maybe once or twice a day, but just a few drops each time. She’s been taking the medication for just over a week now, and from what I’ve read it can take some time to reach its full effect.

“Other than that, she’s happy and healthy. Great appetite, good energy. She loves to romp outside with my two, and is totally gonzo when it comes to chasing squirrels. She leaps at the base of my pecan trees trying to get up into the tree, and gets up to about 6 feet or so, so she’s a jumper. She likes to munch on ice cubes, which is sort of cute (and sort of messy!). After all that zipping around during the day, she’s wonderful at night. Sleeps in her crate the whole night through, and never makes a peep.”

Mikki needs an energetic family who will be around to keep her company, enjoy all her young-dog antics, keep her exercised and let her out frequently—and who’ll be ready to keep up with her Proin and monitor her progress as she continues to recover from her life-changing surgery. She has already come SO far from where she started!

Updated 7/27/11

Great news for Mikki!   She had her follow-up with Dr. Kerpack at CTVSH today and was given the ALL-CLEAR to resume her life with no activity restriction!   The last we heard, she immediately engaged in a fun wrestle-match with her fellow Goldens and was "down for the count" with them for a well-earned nap.

Updated 7/16/11

“She’s holding her urine and able to urinate on her own now. This is HUGE!”

Those were the words we were waiting to hear! Three days after Mikki’s marathon surgery, her urinary tract is finally starting to operate as it should… for the first time in her young life. When Dr Kerpsack did the operation on July 11, he discovered that BOTH ureters were ectopic; one drained into her urethra, the other into her vagina. Her bladder had no openings for ureters at all—so he created them, and rerouted the ureters to where they should be. For three days, a catheter was in place to drain her bladder for her—but when it was removed, Mikki began to empty her bladder on her own, just like a normal dog. Hooray!

Because Mikki has never used her bladder before, and it’s never actually held urine, it’s very small; it will take a couple of months for it slowly to expand to  normal size, and for her to be able to “hold it” for  hours at a time. In the meantime, she’ll continue to have accidents and she’ll need to go outside quite frequently for potty breaks. But: “She definitely has the idea of pottying now. She’ll do one long pee and then a few little ones when we go outside.”

The clinic staff loved her! “Mikki is a wonderful patient -- a real doll -- easy to work with. Very loving,  sweet & petite.” The only down side is that this gal IS a chewer and, after Miss Stinker demolished the rubber mat in her crate, she had to make do with shredded newspapers.  (Notice the sign on her cage!)

Dr Kerpsack feels Mikki is actually doing better than average in her recovery. For the next two weeks, she’ll need very careful exercise restriction, either in a crate or in a crate and ex-pen combination. No running, playing, wrestling, walks, etc.  She’ll head back to the vet around July 25 for staple removal (her incision is really long) and a recheck.

More news then – if not before!

And above all:  THANK YOU a thousand times over to all the generous donors who contributed so generously to Mikki’s expenses. GRR is so fortunate to have so many wonderful supporters!

Updated 7/4/11

 “I am Mikki, a 1-year-old Golden Retriever that is looking for a new home. I am very sweet, good with kids, but I do like to jump. I have a medical condition called an ectopic ureter and need a surgery that my current owner can not afford. If you would like to come meet me and provide me a good home, please call.”

When intake volunteer Lisa spotted the classified ad, she called right away for more details. She learned that Mikki’s owners got their adorable, petite blondie  as a ten-week-old pup. The tiny Golden had a lot of accidents—of course, what pup doesn’t? But after a few months they began to suspect that what they’d put down to difficulties in housebreaking might be something more complicated. Mikki was constantly wet; she dribbled urine all the time, and lost more if she raised up on her hind legs. A visit to the vet turned up a bladder infection—maybe that was the problem? But even after the meds were finished, the leaking continued. A vet tech friend suggested the issue might be ectopic ureter, a birth defect in which one or both ureters—the very thin tubes carrying urine from the kidneys to the bladder—empty not into the bladder, as they should do, but somewhere else, often directly into the urethra. From there, with nothing to stop its flow, the urine  simply leaks out of the body as it is formed. Family finances didn’t extend to diagnostics and certainly not to surgery—but Mikki had already been put outside to spare the rugs and floors, and an all-outdoor life wasn’t the answer either. Hence the hunt for a new home for Mikki.

What to do? What if we took Mikki in and it turned out that her problem couldn’t be fixed? Or what if we did the surgery, and it didn’t work? Then again, what if we DIDN’T take her? For dogs with untreated ectopic ureter and constant urine leakage, life is ultimately pretty miserable. They suffer perpetually raw, irritated skin from urine scald; and the urine-soaked fur and skin attract flies, which in turn leads to infection and maggot infestation. When we looked at that bright, chipper, smiling little dog, we knew we HAD to take a chance on her.

Mikki arrived in GRR care on June 27—and she’s a typical busy-body 1-year-old in every way.

“What’s on this counter? Is it good to eat?” She’s a definite counter cruiser.

“What’s this? What’s that? Let me just sample it… is it tasty?” She’s a chewer—crating is a must!

“Who are these other dogs? Would they like to play?” She’s social!

“ Hi! Hi!  Hi! Just wanted to make sure you knew I was here!” She’s a jumper, all right!

At her surgical consult, we got some encouraging news: the ultrasound didn’t show any complications which would prevent surgery, and in particular, it showed that Mikki DOES have a bladder – some dogs are born without them. We’ll proceed with surgery,  though Dr Kerpsack won’t know exactly what procedures he’ll be doing until Mikki is sedated & he’s able to make an incision and examine her insides directly, find out just where her ureters are, and proceed with repositioning them. Further good news is that Dr Kerpsack’s success rate is 75% with this operation—and if there’s still some incontinence post surgery,  the inexpensive medication Proin is effective and  increases the success rate to 85%.

Ectopic ureter repair is  a very difficult, very lengthy surgery, lasting three or four hours. (By comparison, Dr Kerpsack says a hip replacement takes him 45 minutes.) It’s an expensive operation, as well. But it’s what Mikki needs to give her a chance at a long and healthy life. She’s scheduled for surgery on July 11, and the doctor will keep her at the clinic at least through the 15^th to monitor her recuperation round the clock. Keep your fingers crossed for Mikki!