Hi My Name is Gatsby. My Birthday is September 14, 2006. I am a Liver Shunt Surgery (Feb. 6, 2007) Survivor. I live in Las Vegas Nevada with my Mum, Pupdaddy, Claudine and my 4 sisters Olive, Boy do I LOVE Olive, Roxy, I like to kiss Roxy all the time, but she gets mad and chases me away. Nora is little, so I like to put my head under her and flip her over, she doesn’t like me at all. Nicky just growls and acts crazy when I try to play with her so I leave Nicky alone.

My mum and dad got me because they wanted a healthy puppy for a change. They call my sisters puppy mill puppies. I come from a really good breeder in Utah. None of her puppies ever have luxating patella’s, Collapsing Trachea, Liver Shunt. My Doctor even bought my sister from that breeder. I got to come home to Las Vegas the day before Thanksgiving 2006.

Mum thought I was goofy because I was clumsy and fell down a lot (but just for a second or two). My sisters are all on a low protein diet, but I got a high protein puppy food so I could grow strong. Mum kept telling the Dr. that I scared her because something wasn’t right, but I played all the time. I didn’t sleep too well, always restless and roaming around.

When we were having lunch on January 10, I started to have a seizure, Mum
grabbed me in a blanket and put me in my carrier and off we went to the hospital. By the time we got there my seizure almost stopped. They took blood and said they would call mum when they had the results. Before we got home I was having another seizure. Mum turned right around and we went back to the hospital. This time they made me stay there, they put tubes everywhere, some for putting stuff in and one for letting stuff out (ouch). I had to have that done every 3 – 4 days or the seizures returned. I was on a low protein diet (like my sisters) along with Flagyl and Clavomox. I had lots of additional tests which were no fun for me, but my doctor finally decided I had to have Liver Shunt surgery.

February 5th mum, pupdaddy and I went to meet Dr. Mason. We liked him very much; he crawled on the floor and “boxed” with me. He said my liver is the size of a potato chip stacked 3 high (Wow pretty big since I weighed 2lbs 3 oz.). The next morning I had my surgery right here in Las Vegas!!!! because my Mum was afraid of flying with me all the way to the University of Tennessee. I woke up with one really big cut and no testicles. I may have lost the family jewels but now I'm healthy!

I got to go home a day early from surgery. Dr. Mason said I was making all the sick dogs upset, because I was feeling so good and acting crazy. Dogs don’t seem to succumb to my charms like humans but I still keep trying.

I came home with a funny collar to keep me from licking my stitches; pupdaddy called it a Martini Glass. I got NO PAIN MEDICATION because of my liver.