New Surgery at PACC Saves Nina's Life

To save pets in need in Pima County, we need a village! Nina’s story is a great example of how donors, volunteers, shelter staff, and other community members all play a part in saving lives.

Nina is a sweet young pup that found herself at PACC, very ill and unable to eat without sitting up in a Bailey Chair. She was suffering from a condition called megaesophagus that made it difficult for food to reach the stomach.

Nina needed a CT scan and specialist consult to determine if her condition could be remedied with surgery. Donations to Friends of PACC gave this young, affectionate dog the second chance she deserved, by paying for these specialty services.

The CT scan and specialist consult discovered that Nina had a stricture around her esophagus called a PRAA, and that surgery could potentially fix the issue and most certainly will help her keep food down. This type of surgery can cost up to $6,000 at a private vet clinic. Thankfully, for the first time ever, the vets at Pima Animal Care Center’s clinic had the tools, time, and support to learn and save Nina right at the shelter.

The vets at PACC had a special message they wanted to share with everyone who supports PACC pets, and especially those who helped Nina:

“We’d like to thank everyone for making this surgery a success. Special thank you to Friends of PACC and all the donors that contributed. We would also like to thank the internist, cardiologist, and radiologist at Desert Veterinary Specialists for the time they took to evaluate Nina and the extensive phone conversations they had with us in order to plan her surgery.

We are also grateful to Benarda Veterinary Hospital who allowed us to borrow their monitoring equipment so we could closely monitor Nina’s breathing and oxygenation during surgery.

And of course, thank you for all the volunteers! We were able to use some donated equipment that we could not have found without Maggie sorting through the donated equipment each week. Thank you to Sharon W. for breathing every 15 seconds for 4 hours for Nina! Thank you to Soli W. who let us borrow her Bailey Chair.”

Now that PACC vets can perform this surgery at the shelter, pets with similar conditions can receive faster treatment without the stress of transport. In addition, funding saved by not using private vet practices for these surgeries will be used to help other pets like Nina.  

Nina is now recovering in a loving foster home and we are hoping to wean her off her Bailey Chair soon. A new life for Nina has just begun thanks to the donors, volunteers, staff, and generous professional support that is the hallmark of our community.