The odds were not with the seven-year-old miniature pinscher who got into some chocolate and perhaps some other fatty food.

“He didn’t want to eat and he was throwing up a lot,” recalls Marlene Koehn, who with her husband Russell, nursed their dog back to health after four surgeries at Milwaukee Emergency Center for Animals, which began on New Year’s Eve.

“Mykko’s case was the most severe I’ve seen in 20 years,” says Marla Lichtenberger, DVM, a critical care specialist and owner of MECA, referring to the pancreatitis the dog suffered from.  The disease causes inflammation of the pancreas. In cases as extreme as Mykko’s, his only hope was surgery and removal of that tissue.

“The most important factor in his recovery was going to surgery early on,” explains Dr. Lichtenberger. “Doctor [David] Brdecka was the savior on this one,” she added. Modern surgical techniques he employed saved this dog, as Dr. Lichtenberger says even five years ago Mykko would have most certainly died. During the operation, Dr. Brdecka attached tubes to drain the infected pancreatic tissue out of the abdomen.

But prompt and competent ER care is only part of the story. Marlene Koehn is the one who nursed her pet back to good health, attending to his needs every four hours around the clock. She also had to administer nausea shots, as well as deal with his feeding tube. That, in addition to her willingness to continue paying for treatment for a dog so sick he was likely to die.

“You look at the dog sitting there so forlorn and you look at my husband sitting there with tears in his eyes and you’re feeling so bad,” remembers Koehn. “You have it to give so why not? We took him to the right doctor and the right place and God took care of the rest,” she says.

Mykko has fully recovered, but must remain on a restricted diet of food that is less than 6% fat. “I can’t get over the difference of how he is now compared to how he was then,” says Koehn. “He is perfectly back to normal.”

– Steve Busalacchi