'Miracle’ dog makes remarkable recovery

A little dog called Mash has been dubbed ‘the miracle Pomeranian’ after surviving high risk emergency surgery to take away his spleen. The 9 year old was brought to our Hammersmith animal hospital in London in February by his worried owner after repeatedly vomiting at home. Blood tests did not reveal any obvious cause for his sickness, but vets stayed concerned that something serious could be wrong. “Mash, on his first arrival, was quiet and lethargic which was quite unlike his usual personality. But the main clinical finding was that his gums were paler than normal, which can be a sign of anaemia,” said the Blue Cross vet in charge of his care. Mash was sent straight to our flagship animal hospital in Victoria for an emergency ultrasound to get to the bottom of what was wrong. Tests showed that Mash had a tumour on his spleen and was bleeding heavily into his tummy – leaving him very ill. The only way to save his life was for vets to carry out emergency surgery to remove the spleen. Due to his age, the odds were stacked against him. “To perform surgery on an animal that has had large bleed into the abdomen is always high risk, in particular if they are older like Mash,” said the vet. “It is a serious procedure, but is not an uncommon one that Blue Cross has to perform. “Before, during and after the surgery Mash needed fluid by vein to make sure his blood pressure was maintained.” But plucky Mash pulled through and with pain relief, anti-inflammatory medication and plenty of TLC from our team, he made a speedy recovery from the operation. It was then a nervous wait for the test results on the tumour, which would determine his prognosis. To the relief of everyone involved, it turned out to be benign and no further treatment was needed. “We will need to keep a regular check on Mash as sometimes the immune system can be slightly less protective after a spleen removal," added the vet. “But he is doing well and was certainly feeling pretty jolly at his last check-up. We call him Mash the miracle Pomeranian now!”