Vet Tails Excerpt – A Tribute to Tana, a Very Special Rescue Dog – Part 2

Vet Tails Excerpt – A Tribute to Tana, a Very Special Rescue Dog – Part 2

One late Friday night when Belinda happened to be visiting Tauranga, Tana had become subdued and lost his spark. Belinda phoned our after-hours number to find Tara at the end of the line. Tara met them at the clinic and found Tana to be very sick and sore in his abdomen. She instituted an intensive care regime with fluid therapy, various medications to ease his pain, injections and ran blood tests then took x-rays to try to find out what was wrong. After nursing Tana through the night she was still very concerned and I went into work to help because Tara had a busy morning of consultations ahead.

We ran more tests that were still inconclusive and then put Tana in our hyperbaric oxygen chamber hoping this would help to support him by easing inflammation and helping to control any infection, as it usually works wonders with so many health conditions. When he came out of the hyperbaric chamber he gave us a brief tail wag but it wasn’t long before we could see his condition was still severe and so we made the decision to do surgery in the hope of finding something simple that we could repair to ease his discomfort.

Tana took a while to stabilise under anaesthetic but he fought through like a trooper. Unfortunately surgery was not as rewarding as we had hoped as we didn’t find any specific problem we could fix but we relieved some pressure off his gall bladder and flushed his abdomen which seemed to ease his discomfort.

The next few days and nights we spent nursing him with Belinda at his side every day and either Tara, Super Sue or I monitoring him through the night. Tana and Belinda had an influx of messages and support from all over the world and some of his fans drew him pictures and sent him cards which were put up on the wall next to where he rested during the day in hospital.

Tana’s blood tests were looking a bit better but his protein levels still weren’t bouncing back and so we ordered in special plasma from the canine blood bank and gave him two plasma transfusions. The laboratory then helped us to identify an infection in his abdomen that was resistant to many drugs and because Tana was still not stabilising we had no choice but to do further surgery to try to find the source of the infection. We were worried about the risk of another anaesthetic but without the surgery Tana was just getting worse.

Tana was amazingly stable through the anaesthetic and we began making progress looking for the site of infection and at the same time cleaning up the mess in his abdomen. Suddenly Tana’s blood pressure dropped and then his heart stopped. We began resuscitation but unfortunately, despite all our very best efforts to do everything that we possibly could to save him, Tana had passed on.

We were devastated. Tana and Belinda had been loved by so many people and Tana left a hole in our hearts. It was definitely not the outcome that Belinda deserved… a relentlessly unforgiving process but she continued to inspire us with her incredibly gracious and positive approach.

We loved working with Belinda and Tana – their intelligence, bravery and beauty touched us all and no doubt always will! The incredible work that Belinda and Tana have done in our community and their amazing bond gave me a much deeper insight and has left me in awe of the unbelievable value that animals have in our society and the huge difference that they can make to so many people in so many little and so many big ways.

Although Tana can never be replaced, having a canine companion to help Belinda to continue to live with her disability-related challenges, and do the wonderful work that she does is important. Through a series of events, too perfect to be a coincidence, the week after Tana died, Belinda was offered the opportunity to be partnered with Finn, a six-month-old huntaway cross rescue puppy who was part of the Purina Pound Pups to Dog Stars Television Series.  Finn had no home, and since Belinda was in desperate need of a new Disability Assist Dog, a match had been made!

Finn had a horrific start to life, yet despite this he is the sweetest pup with a huge heart and a very gentle and sensitive nature. He is a quick learner and it didn’t take him long to be able to perform some trained tasks to help Belinda with her disability-related needs. Miraculously Finn also showed early signs of being able to alert Belinda to an oncoming seizure. With Finn’s huge potential and the considerable cost involved to train Finn, we became involved helping to raise funds for Belinda and meeting her team of amazing people devoted to disability assist dogs and therapy pets.

Thank you Tana and Belinda for being such a truly inspirational duo. RIP dear Tana as your legacy lives on and Finn steps into your big doggy shoes!