RAPS ANIMAL HOSPITAL
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Pets and Pickers >
      • Watch TV Show
    • Careers
    • RAPS News
  • Our Team
    • Our Team
    • Eyal Lichtmann
  • Our Facilities
    • Our Facilities
  • Our Services
    • Vet Care
    • At-Home Euthanasia
    • Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy >
      • Download eBook
    • Dental Care
    • Public Subsidy Policy
    • Application for Community Vet Assistance
    • Island Residents
    • Learning Resources
  • Pet Health
    • Pet Health
    • News & Tips
  • Specials
    • VIP Members
    • Monthly Specials
    • Dental Special
  • Shop
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Client Registration
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cancellation Policy
  • DONATE
    • DONATE TO RAPS
    • US DONATIONS
    • TRIBUTE CARDS
  • Appointments
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Pets and Pickers >
      • Watch TV Show
    • Careers
    • RAPS News
  • Our Team
    • Our Team
    • Eyal Lichtmann
  • Our Facilities
    • Our Facilities
  • Our Services
    • Vet Care
    • At-Home Euthanasia
    • Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy >
      • Download eBook
    • Dental Care
    • Public Subsidy Policy
    • Application for Community Vet Assistance
    • Island Residents
    • Learning Resources
  • Pet Health
    • Pet Health
    • News & Tips
  • Specials
    • VIP Members
    • Monthly Specials
    • Dental Special
  • Shop
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Client Registration
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cancellation Policy
  • DONATE
    • DONATE TO RAPS
    • US DONATIONS
    • TRIBUTE CARDS
  • Appointments

Happy ending after serious surgery

7/10/2020

0 Comments

 

Despite extremely rare condition, Toby is back to normal and expected to have many more year

Picture
One family is relieved and thrilled after their 11-year-old cat experienced an incredibly rare health crisis – and is now home and happy!
 
Toby lives with Mandy Lichtmann, RAPS’ Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, and Eyal Lichtmann, RAPS’ CEO, and their family. The trouble started in April, when the normally extroverted and cuddly Toby became withdrawn from the family. Soon, he was vomiting continuously and not eating.
 
Dr. Assaf Goldberg at the RAPS Animal Hospital examined Toby and ordered blood work, X-rays and an ultrasound.
 
“It showed a mass in his bowel so surgery was recommended,” Mandy says. 

Due to the location and the size of the mass, the surgery was very challenging. The mass caused severe damage to the intestinal segment involved, leading to a blockage of the gastrointestinal tract. Toby could not pass food and therefore he was vomiting and had decreased appetite says Dr. Goldberg. The mass was inside a 15-centimetre section if Toby’s gastrointestinal tract. 
 
That meant that section had to be removed and the tract on either side joined together during the surgery. Despite the complicated procedure, all went well. 
 
The doctor and the family awaited the biopsy results. Blockages like this are frequently cancerous at Toby’s age and everyone prepared for the worst.
 
“I thought we were going to lose him,” Mandy says.

Toby was hospitalized at the RAPS Animal Hospital for a few days with IV fluids, antibiotics and pain medication and supportive care. After a few days, he returned home with a feeding tube in his neck. 
 
“I had to tube-feed him up to five times a day,” she says. “He was a really good patient, thank goodness, because not all cats are when they are being tube-fed. The hospital was great whenever I had any concerns. After about a week, we took him off all pain meds and he was a total trooper. He really started to come back to life, his personality came back, he started to eat on his own and since then he's been great.”
 
Then came the great news: The growth was not cancerous. It was a benign and extremely rare condition called gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia. It could have been fatal but, since it was removed, Toby is expected to suffer no side-effects.
 
“He's back to normal,” says Mandy. He'll be on a special digestive care diet probably for the rest of his life, but that’s a small price to pay for the Lichtmann family to have their old Toby back to normal.

Dr. Goldberg says this condition is so rare that most veterinarians will never encounter it in their careers.
 
Veterinary medicine has advanced dramatically in recent decades and conditions that might have led to an animal’s death are often ameliorated or cured with innovative care.
 
“We love stories like this,” says Dr. Goldberg. “It is such a joy to tell a family that their pet is going to recover and that they will likely have many more years together.”
Picture
0 Comments

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    January 2023
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    July 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Contact Information
Phone: 604-242-1666
Email: animalhospital@rapsbc.com

Suite 205 - 13340 Smallwood Place
Richmond, BC  V6V 1W8
Request Appointment
CANCELLATION POLICY

Errors and Omissions: Please note that RAPS' website, services or offers may contain typographical errors or inaccuracies and may not be complete or current. RAPS reserve the right to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions and to change or update information at any time, without prior notice. Such errors, inaccuracies or omissions may relate to RAPS’ services, offers or educational materials or any other matter related to RAPS’s business and activities. RAPS does not undertake to update, modify or clarify information on its website, except as required by law or regulations.

Regional Animal Protection Society
Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) is a no-kill animal services agency that operates what is now Canada's largest cat sanctuary.

​Charitable Registration No. 89073 3777 RR0001
DONATE TO RAPS (CDN)
DONATE TO RAPS (USD)
The RAPS Animal Hospital is a program of the Regional Animal Protection Society.
Privacy Policy

Regional Animal Protection Society is not overseen by Government or a Crown corporation and is in no way similar to provincial health authorities and their regional facilities.

Picture

​We acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia.

Site powered by Weebly. Managed by IDEXX Laboratories
Picture