The middle school therapy dog, Ariel, had a life-saving surgery, on Friday, Oct. 25. Ariel accidentally ate a rock and needed intestine surgery.
On Oct. 22, Ariel was up late that night and throwing up in the yard for over an hour. The next morning, she seemed fine, but later that day, she kept throwing up and not eating. Eventually, Mrs. Sara Miller took her to the vet and they took an exam, but saw nothing significant in her bloodwork. After the vet that night, Ariel was acting normal. She was wagging her tail and ate dinner. The next day, she woke up, but seemed tired and something was wrong. Ariel was still throwing up. Mrs. Miller took her to the Windrose Veterinary Clinic for X-rays to hopefully find out what was wrong. The X-rays showed an obstruction in her small intestine of something hard and solid. The vets at Windrose Animal Hospital recommended that Ariel be immediately transported to MedVet in McMurray, an emergency vet clinic that could do the surgery.
On Oct. 25, Ariel had begun her surgery. Dr. Leah Miller performed her surgery. The surgeons cut out six inches of her intestines and took out the object. They then sewed it back up and Ariel was better. She is still recovering from her surgery, but she is doing well. After the surgery, they found out Ariel had swallowed a rock and it was causing her life-threatening issues.
“Ariel is recovering well, and she’s been running around and playing,” Mrs. Baker, middle school secretary, said.
If you saw Ariel at the beginning of November, she wore a black vest. The vest was to help recover her stomach and intestine area. Unfortunately, the surgery was estimated to cost $8,000 – $10,000. The school didn’t have insurance or funding for Ariel for this situation. However, Dr. Richard Skalos, owner of Windrose Animal Hospital, authorized a payment for the surgery with his own money. We are so grateful for him because Ariel wouldn’t have gotten the surgery without him authorizing the payment. There has been some progress in forming a committee to make sure that both Ariel and Rosie have funding for situations like these in the future. The district also plans to pay back Dr. Skalos and the other donors for their donations.
