I had always wanted a Shih Tzu so I started looking on the internet, I found her on a website and went to see her, I took along a couple of friends who knew a little about the breed. It was love at first sight, so I paid my deposit and picked her up three weeks later.
Coco was a special little dog full of fun and mischief, all seemed well for the first few months. Then she caught kennel cough, off she went to the vets for treatment, antibiotics and steroids followed, but the more treatment she had the worse she seemed to get. We asked the vet to do blood tests, these showed a rise in the results. My vet was unsure of what was wrong and advised us to take her to the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, they diagnosed a Liver Shunt.
It was explained to us that Coco has an extra vein taking some of her blood around her liver and as a result her liver was shrinking, also her blood was not being cleaned of the toxins. The options were to have her operated on, with risks or keep her on a special diet, but this would shorten her life considerably.
We made our decision to go ahead with the operation so in early February we took her back for her operation, we waited to hear from the Animal Health Trust. Eventually we heard she had come through the operation, in fact the next morning she had been taken out for a wee by the kennel staff and was running around.
We picked her up a few days later, on all sorts of medication. She was looking a lot better though still poorly. We had several check ups over the next few months and seemed to be doing ok. On our last visit her consultant voiced his concerns that the vein hadn’t closed up completely, he thought he might have to do another operation in the new year. She looked so well at the time it seemed so unnecessary. Boy was I wrong.
Coco took a turn for the worse on 6th August, we rushed her back to the Animal Health Trust but they could not save her, my little bundle of mischief was gone.
Our only consolation was that we gave her an extra 6 months, in which she had a lot of fun, and yes I would do the same again, you have got to try haven’t you.
It’s been two weeks now and I miss her like crazy, even though I have got 6 other dogs, she was something special. I will definitely get another Shih Tzu.
