MEDICAL HOLD Tessa came to PugHearts from San Antonio back in November as a 7 week old puppy with a prolapsed rectum.

A prolapse will typically occur in puppies that haven’t been properly dewormed, causing severe diarrhea.

A purse string was put in by the vet in San Antonio prior to her transport to Houston.

What is a purse string?

Think of it as a drawstring in her rectum to hold her insides in, similar to holding the contents of a bag in place.

This is so important because the longer that the bowls are out, the more necrotic the tissue becomes.

The purse string stayed in for 2 weeks and less than 48 hours after it was out, Tessa prolapsed again.

She was rushed back to our vet to have an additional purse string.

This is when we assumed the problem was bigger than we thought and it was discovered that Tessa has no muscle tone in her rectum.

This purse string stayed in for 3 weeks, and this time she prolapsed less than 24 hours from removal.

I became quite versed in pushing her colon back inside her body every time she prolapsed, until her emergency surgery was performed the following day.

Dr. Hendrix performed a Coloplexy on Tessa, essentially pulling and tacking the colon to the abdominal wall and leaving no room for an additional prolapse to occur.

Since this surgery, we have been finding out all the additional problems Tessa has, and assume she born with this defect.

She has a total collapse of the 7th vertebrae leading into her pelvis causing nerve damage to the colon, which also gives her a funny gait and a spastic neurogenic colon.

She has the urge to poop all the time, and will posture constantly with some, little or nothing coming out.

It ends up on her, the other dogs, me and the wall on occasion.

She has to have her anal glands manually expressed on a weekly basis because her body can’t do it.

She will never be able to jump on and off the furniture or use stairs.

There’s mornings that I want to scream and cry while I’m scrubbing poop, but then I see her and everything is worth it.

We’ve treated her with prednisone and metronidazole to no avail, and we currently have her on Tylan which has helped the consistency be more formed.

She is on a strict diet of GI high energy wet food and Biome If Tessa hadn’t found her way to PugHearts, she would not be here.

There is no information on treating this condition because most dogs would have died or been euthanized.

PugHearts is fighting for Tessa and we are doing everything that we can to help her.

It’s not cheap, Her dog food is almost $80 a bag, but this little baby deserves the best.

SLPH accepts manufacturers coupons for the Hill’s Science Diet food, if you’d like to donate those at the clinic.

I had $15 worth today!

Today Tessa had her last booster.

At this point, most puppies would be ready for adoption.

Tessa is not.

We’ve concluded that Tessa might not ever be adoptable, but we also aren’t calling her hospice.

It’s unknown what Tessa might have to tackle next and with Pughearts and me as her foster, we will be ready to take on anything, but it’s not a burden we want future adopters to have to face.

Tessa is my baby.

She is spoiled rotten just like she’s suppose to be.

She spends the majority of her day being held or in my lap, and sleeps every night curled around my neck.

Please consider donating to Tessa’s care.

She deserves the world and PugHearts is going to give it to her