The acrobatic dog, Kingston, has a rare disease and needed an expensive operation, but the citizens were so generous that Kingston’s owners were able to get him operated.
• Also read: An expensive operation to save Kingston, “influencer” dog from Saguenay
And the operation is a success.
On December 6, Joannie Pearson went to the University Veterinary Hospital Center (CHUV) in Trois-Rivières for the operation in Kingston. The two-year-old border collie has been at home for two weeks and is doing very well.
“It went really well. They made a small cut in his neck. They had to go through a vein to get to where they had to add plugs to block the vein that ‘bypasses’ the work of the liver,” said his mistress, Joannie Pearson.
Kingston suffered from a rare disease, the porto-systemic intrahepatic shunt, where an anomaly in a blood vessel prevented his liver from filtering his blood pool, which is then diverted to his heart and then his brain. This poisoning leads to neurological problems.
“Usually they cannot close the vein 100% because the liver is not used to having so much blood. But for Kingston, they took the necessary precautions and they were able to close it 100%. It is a very rare case and it is extraordinary,” she explained.
Joannie Pearson went through the full range of emotions as the operation was risky.
“Since they’re going to block a vein, we don’t know how the dog will react, but the vets have put me at ease. It was more the price that was important,” confided the young woman.
A total price of about $18,000.
“The price depended on the connectors he needed and Kingston didn’t need a lot of connectors so the price came out a lot less than what we got in the bid, so that was good news too,” she admitted.
They were able to count on the great generosity of people. Donors allowed him to defray some of the costs.
“It was a big help, I didn’t expect that. I had both gift and psychological support. They were beautiful words, from people who also shared their story with me. To feel supported by so many people was really good,” she admitted gratefully.
Kingston’s recovery is now complete. He only has one preventive blood test left, in two weeks, to make sure everything is behind him.
“Today we can start shooting the frisbee again, quietly start our sport again. He is my partner, he is my faithful friend and we share common passions together. I couldn’t have a better partner for the year 2023”, mentioned Joannie.
The coming year has great things in store for them.
“We will continue the dog shows, we will continue playing Frisbee. And we are creating a program to offer young people here in Saguenay to introduce them to the world of dogs. We have a lot of amazing adventures ahead of us,” she added.
