Chance's Story

Our story starts with a very sad ending. We lost our baby cat, Tiger, she was 21 years old, and that is in human years. We raised her on a bottle from a tiny baby. She was in perfect health nothing at all wrong with her. The pet food recall of 2006, claimed her life. I was devastated, I didn't want to live myself, I had her since I was 17 years old and now I was lost. My husband knew I had to have something to take care of, because that is my nature. In the past we had talked about getting Tiger a playmate and we decided on a Yorkie. We knew they couldn't hurt each other but at that time we decided against it.

We started looking for a Yorkie, because I felt it was what Tiger would want me to have. I had promised I would never get another kitty. We called about lots of puppies. We lived in Crossville TN and we finally found a Yorkie close to us in Springfield TN, only about 3 hours away. I just knew this was the one, I could just feel it.

We finally found the house where the puppy was, ( we didn't realize it was a puppymill, we had never bought a dog before ). The man brought her out for me to see, she was so tiny. I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her. My husband did also, and he claims he is a big dog person. We were told, we could meet her parents when we talk to the people on the phone, but when we got there they didn't let us. I should have seen the “Red Flagg” but my heart ruled and I knew she was the "one".

We headed home, my puppy was in my arms; I couldn't stop smiling, which all I had been doing was crying.

My husband and I started thinking of a name for her. Right away the name came to me "CHANCE"......I was taking a chance that she would help me get over the pain of losing my baby kitty. "Chance" snuggle to me right from the start, and looked like she knew we were going to take good care of her. My husband I starting saying her name to her, she would look every time. By the time we got back home Chance knew her name. She was so smart; we had her potty pad trained in 2 & 1/2 months. I won't tell about the twizzlers I used as potty treats, but they worked.

Chance continued to grow and she got all her shots. She was Spayed at 6 months, we never had any problems. She took her ’Heartguard Plus’ and K-9 Advantix and never any negative reactions. But Chance always drank a lot and, of course peed a lot. She also had a few bladder infections, I always wanted to know why she had them, but my vet would blame it on something I gave her to eat. Now I know the twizzlers, was not good for her but, I had quit giving her those a long time ago.

I made Chances treats. I knew there had to be a reason for the bladder infections. I finally told my vet I wanted blood work, so we knew why. When the blood tests came back Chances liver enzymes were high, the vet said we would retest in 2 months. Chance then started pacing around in the evening, she couldn't get comfortable. She would even growl at me sometimes when I would pick her up. I knew something was wrong.

We took Chance to a different vet. He did some blood work and when he got the tests back he thought she might have a liver shunt. Her liver enzymes were over 3 times higher than normal. He told us we needed to go to the University of Tennessee as they were the best place for liver shunt repair. Dr. Higgins called U/T for us and they made an appointment for the very next day.

I had been studying about liver shunts, because I like to buy things from Yorkie Rescue. I read on that site about liver shunts. Chance had all the tests done that day; we had to leave her there for the night, which totally hurt me. Chance did have a shunt, they gave a new diet, put her on Lactulose and told us her surgery would be in two weeks. I was so scared, I didn't want to lose her, I had her for only 2 years and 4 months, that was not long enough I expected a much longer life span for her.

I read as much as I could about liver shunts off the internet. I really, really wanted Dr. Tobias to do her surgery, she is the best, and I live only 2 hours from Knoxville. After all I read, I felt like I knew Dr. Tobias personally. It’s not that the other surgeons weren't good but I just felt like I knew she was the best and I wanted the best for Chance. We found out if we did the surgery in 1 week, Dr. Tobias could do her surgery. We ask if it would hurt to do it that soon and they said it would be fine, so on March 26, 2009, Chance had her surgery. We got to get her the very next day, but Dr. Tobias told us to stay in a hotel by the hospital just to be safe in case there were any problems. Chance came through the surgery just fine and so we came home Saturday.

My furbaby now has a big long scar down her little belly, but we look at that scar as a reminder, that heros are not just in T.V. and movies. Dr. Tobias is my "HERO"! I could never repay her for what she did for me, my husband and especially Chance.

I always thought I was the only one that was taking a risk that Chance would help me feel better, but now I know that my little "Chance" took a bigger chance with Danny and I. She took the chance we would always take care of her. We all won!!!!!

With all our thanks to God, Dr. Tobias, and all the friends we met.

Danny and Sandy Evans
& our little Yorkie "CHANCE"……