We have been under the care of the internal med team at ARH since an emergency visit 8 months ago for our 8 year old greyhound. What appeared to be laboured breathing late on a Sunday evening was not the bloat we thought it might be, but instead the symptom of a catastrophic clot in her spleen.

We had to call in Dr Tim for specialist treatment and scans on The Sunday night, and eventually after she stabilised had to leave her in hospital with well managed and sensitive expectations that she may not have long.

Bloods showed she had significant Protein Loss in Urine and free fluid in her abdomen due to shunts stemming off her vena cava.

In other words she was incredibly unwell and in significant levels of pain. We spoke with Tim and Daisy continually through the first week, and finally were able to bring her home where she could be more comfortable. Again we were given a fabulous document detailing her care and what to look for to rush her back in for. We made it a week before we rushed her back in as the drugs doing their job meant small pets of the major clot was breaking down, but that meant they were travelling.

Back home, adjustment of pain management and diet. Specialist referral to vet nutritionist because appetite was gone.

Tenterhooks for another 3 weeks, back in for check up and med review… then again in another month and now we’re on 3-4 month check ins! Initially we were talking days, then weeks, then months and now quarters!

Foxy surprised us all and responded really well to medical intervention and diet change. She is now a bright bubbly cat dog greyhound again. Her major clot is all but gone and her bloods are all showing good things.

We were so lucky to have the team involved that we did, their rapid response and interventions have prevent us from having to say goodbye, which would have been the right thing to do if her quality of life and pain were unmanageable.

In thankful for the compassion and obvious care the ARH vet techs, nurses, reception, specialists, etc showed. It’s a high pressure, heavy mental load career choice and they are so very constrained by other humans choices and behaviours.

Thankyou all!