'It's a beautiful pick-me-up': Abandoned dog gets life-changing surgery

In the operating room, the patient lies sedated under a blue blanket with a single ear exposed. The four-person surgical team hovers above, patiently cutting the ear's soft tissue and separating the ear canal.

It's a serious and complex procedure, the kind you might see in any hospital.

But the difference is that this is a veterinary hospital, and the patient is an abandoned dog.

Jake's story

In late October, a friendly mutt named Jake was brought in to the St. John's Animal Care and Adoption Centre as a stray. He had a collar with his name on it, but after several weeks no one arrived to claim him.

The city's shelter veterinarian, Dr. Heather Hillier, thinks she knows why.

"The first thing we noticed was that his ear carriage was different. So he does have nice stand-up ears, but they were winged out to the side instead of standing straight up," she said.

"What has happened is that all of the tissue inside his ears has swollen and changed over time, so it almost looks like he has tumours in his ears, all of this tissue has grown out and completely closed off his ear canals."

It's a condition usually seen in older dogs, but Jake is just two. Hillier said it likely began as a simple ear infection, but was never treated.

Now, Jake's ear drums have ruptured, he is nearly deaf and is in constant pain.

But despite his condition, Hillier said Jake charmed the shelter staff with his affectionate and playful personality.

"Despite being in pain and discomfort, he doesn't show it. He still wants to greet everyone when they walk in the door," she said.

Not every day is as joyful as his story, so it's really lovely to have these stories.- Heather Hillier

"He didn't know us when we met him, when he was brought in, but within 24 hours he was sleeping on our receptionist's feet."

Because of his youth and resilience, shelter staff wanted to make a special effort for Jake, but his condition requires major surgery that costs more than $5,000.

The surgeon

Dr. Trina Bailey is the province's only animal surgeon certified by the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, and is one of just two in Atlantic Canada. Her clinic, the Veterinary Specialty Centre, handles pets with the most severe problems. Dogs with broken bones, cats with cancer, and everything in between.

The clinic employs a large and highly-trained staff, including a radiologist and several veterinary technicians.  

Running it requires massive amounts of medication, supplies and equipment, just like a normal human hospital.

It's an expensive business to operate, but the clinic squeezes in some special cases at little or no charge.

Bailey said her clinic decided to make Jake one of them.

"This is not my most favourite surgery to do, but it's one of my favourite surgeries in improvement of quality of life that we see after they're all recovered," said Bailey.

"And when you see a dog like him that was already so happy, it's nice to be able to know that we're going to make him that much better on the other end."

Because Jake's condition is so advanced, both of his ear canals must be completely removed in a long and painstaking procedure.

Some visitors to the animal shelter heard Jake's story and left donations for him. Bailey's clinic is covering the rest of the $5,000 cost.

The big day

On the day of the surgery, Jake is sedated, intubated and X-rayed, but the vets also give him a haircut, shaving his head and both his ears to give Bailey a better view.

They also put children's socks on his feet, so his paws don't get cold during the four-hour procedure.

Bailey uses electrocautery to cut tissue and seal bleeding blood vessels. It's a slow and painstaking procedure, but Bailey said it can't be rushed.

"One of the big structures that we want to avoid while we're doing this surgery is the facial nerve, and the best way to avoid that is by taking your time, removing all the soft tissue around the ear canal and staying very, very close to the ear canal itself," said Bailey.

After more than an hour of surgery, the ear canal is literally hanging by a thread. Suddenly, Bailey makes a final incision and pulls it free.

"There … so that's the ear canal. And you can see down inside the canal, all this black, thick tissue," said Bailey. "It shouldn't look like that."

The surgical team isn't finished yet. Jake is stitched up and turned over, then they start again on his other ear.

The recovery

One week later, Jake is back on his paws and at the city shelter. The surgery has left him completely deaf, but his pain is completely gone.

Hillier said Jake quickly returned to his usual spot at the receptionist's feet, but he won't be there for long.

A family has already agreed to adopt Jake.

"They're quite committed to him and have actually already been talking to a trainer to learn some hand signals to communicate better with him," she said.

Hillier said Jake has stolen the hearts of everyone at the shelter and will be greatly missed, but it's not every day that a dog walks in with a terrible medical problem, and walks out healthy, wagging his tail.

"I think [for] everyone in the building, it's a beautiful pick-me-up," she said.

"Not every day is as joyful as his story, so it's really lovely to have these stories."