We have had the pleasure of seeing Jaffa at Hollybank for an incredible 11 years, ever since she was a bouncy 7-week-old puppy.

Recently, Jaffa was brought to us by her owner after an episode of vomiting and not eating very well. The clinical examination didn’t reveal any abnormalities at this stage, but we noted that Jaffa had lost some weight. As she was otherwise well, she was given an anti-sickness injection, and she was monitored at home.

Even though the sickness had stopped after the injection, Jaffa was still not eating and was quieter than usual. The follow-up consultation revealed further weight loss, but the rest of the examination was unremarkable. However, due to the persistent poor appetite and weight loss, we decided to perform an ultrasound scan of her abdomen.

Jaffa was admitted to the hospital, and we completed the scan the same morning. Unfortunately, a mass within her small intestine was found as well as an intussusception, which means that part of her small intestine had folded into a section of intestine immediately ahead of it. The intussusception was suspected to occur secondary to the presence of the mass as it affected the same section of the gut.

Surgery was performed the same afternoon – we confirmed the findings from the ultrasound scan and removed the portion of the intestine that was causing the problem. The surgery was successful, and Jaffa recovered well from the general anaesthetic. We offered her small amounts of highly digestible gastrointestinal diet, and she started eating within a few hours after the surgery. She stayed with us overnight to allow us to monitor her closely and ensure she was comfortable. As we were very pleased with her progress, we discharged her home the following morning. To guide further treatment, we submitted the sample for histopathology to an external laboratory and whilst waiting for the results, Jaffa was gradually improving and getting back to the Jaffa we all know and love.

After a week, we received the histopathology results and was delighted to report that Jaffa’s mass was benign in nature and thus the surgical removal should have been curative with no further management needed.

Jaffa was a superstar throughout it all and thankfully, Jaffa had a caring family to look after her throughout her recovery to allow her to bounce back to her normal self quickly.