Some of the hardest cases we see in rescue are when a life threatening condition was something that could have been 100% avoided. Freddie is one of those stories and we are hoping that he got to in us time to save his life.

Freddie came to DRSF after he was surrendered to us with one of the most advanced cases of perineal hernias that we have ever seen. He arrived at LeadER Animal Specialty Hospital with massive swelling around his bottom that had to have taken months to get as advanced as it is.

What is a perineal hernia and why can it be life threatening you ask? That is a great question - it can happen when testosterone from an un-neutered dog eats away at the perineum (a dogs pelvic floor) resulting in the bladder, intestines, or fat pushing through the muscle to an abnormal position just under the skin. (thank you VCA Hospital for the explanation.)

Freddie's family chose to do nothing as the testosterone ate away at the muscles around the Freddie's perineum and then the poo stared to go into to those holes making it harder and harder for him to poo. So as Freddie continued to strain harder to "go" and he pushed harder and harder the holes get bigger and bigger and his innards start getting pushed through those holes and by the time Freddie made his way to us his bladder and a good chunk of his intestines made their way into those pockets on the side of his rectum causing the masses and that is when they asked to surrender him to us even though they "loved him so much".

Now that Freddie's bladder has been pushed into that hole, he is experiencing elevated kidney issues. What we don't know is if he has chronic kidney disease that has nothing to do with the hernia or if he as acute kidney disease that we might be able to fix OR if he had chronic kidney disease that turned into acute kidney disease and thus permanent kidney disease because it was left untreated for so long.

The only thing we can do for Freddie at this point is get him on some fluids and a catheter, flush his innards out, give his kidneys a chance to rest and see what happens.

Tonight, Freddie is under the care of Dr. Ganthous, Internal Medicine Specialist, and Dr. Horgan, Medical Director, Surgical Specalist, and Criticalist at LeadER. He could not be in better hands.

We get serious push back from potential adoptive families about spay/neuter and this is why. Not only was Freddie's condition 100% avoidable, it was 100% able to be treated if his family sought medical care and for reasons known only to them, they waited until his life hung in the balance before asking for help.

We don't know if we can save Freddie, but we are going to try. His family who had him for years turned their backs and let him suffer for who knows how long, but his DRSF family who has known him for only a short period of time is going to to move heaven and earth with the most advanced medical care there is to see if we can save his life.

Will you be on our team to try and save Freddie's life? As always, all it takes is $1 to join the hardest working, most loving team in rescue. Can Freddie count on you for a donation of even a few dollars?