08/01/2025
It's time to celebrate Drogo, who was successfully discharged from our hospital. He was a uniquely challenging patient! He developed a hemoabdomen (free blood in his abdominal cavity) and a massive blood clot in his pelvic canal secondary to suspected von Willebrand's disease. Confirmatory testing is pending. The clot was so large that it occluded his colon and urinary bladder, necessitating emergency surgery.
Doberman pinschers are over-represented for developing von Willebrand's disease, which is a blood clotting disorder. Normally, this breed is screened for this disease prior to neutering, but Drogo has not been castrated, nor has he ever had surgery. We suspect his bleeding event was caused by playing with another dog in his home.
Drogo received life-saving care from members of our emergency, surgery, and ICU teams, including Dr. Vogel (ER veterinarian, not pictured), Kelsey (ICU LVT), Morgan (Surgery LVT), Dr. Meyer (board certified surgeon), and Dr. Byers (board certified emergency/critical care & small animal internal medicine specialist). Drogo was a truly critical patient, and our talented overnight ICU teams Dr. Haller(ER Veterinarian) Ashley (ICU LVT), Sam (ICU VA), Alyson (ICU VA), and Abby (ICU VA and Vet Student) (All are not pictured as they were getting much deserved sleep when Drogo went home) were able to ensure he received the necessary around-the-clock intensive care.
Let's all celebrate Drogo and his family for his successful discharge from the hospital. Yay Drogo!
