This sort of surgery - I have three lives in my hands.
Three lives, little tiny lives.
And so yeah, I'm adrenaline charged
right through it until the very end.
"We didn't know they had the hernias at first."
They came along as they grew.
"If the intestines go down, the impact will be"
horrendous, it’ll be catastrophic for them.
So we've got to fix the hernias up straight away.
Okay, one down.
Let’s start again.
Hello babies.
In Sydney, Vicki from Jack Russell Rescue
has brought three puppies to see Dr. Rob.
Come on, let's get this done.
We take in Jack Russell rescue dogs from towns,
"and we rehabilitate them and try and find them homes."
But before Chip, Kingston and Monty
"can be adopted, they must be fit and healthy."
Sadly, the three brothers all have the same
serious medical condition.
We were excited when the puppies were born,
but we didn't know they had the hernias at first.
They came along as they grew,
so they will all need to have surgery.
"- Hey, Vicki, how are you? - Hi, how’re you going?"
Good.
These are the babies you talked about?
These are the ones.
Okay, thank you.
Let's go and have a look.
Jack Russells are some of the cutest
puppies you'll ever meet.
They're just friendly. They love life.
"They're high energy puppies, but they are just loveable."
Let's have a look at you.
Okay.
Oh, yeah.
Look at those hernias.
That's enormous.
"The unsightly bulge is caused by the puppies intestines"
dangerously protruding through a hole
in the abdominal wall.
And the worry there, of course, is that
the intestines can fall in there and twist
and that can kill him. Let’s have a look at another one.
Okay, next.
We are nervous today about how the puppies
are going to go through the surgery.
It's still a concern to put any dog under anaesthetic,
let alone one that's only ten weeks old.
We hope that the surgery goes well
and we hope that they go through it,
but there's a chance that they may not.
I get worried about a hernia in the diaphragm.
That's the muscle that separates what's
in the chest to what's in the tummy.
If we have a hernia there, that becomes, goes from 0 to 100.
As far as an emergency is concerned,
when we're anaesthetised
"The main thing with the hernias is the stuffs"
coming from the tummy, it's going outside
the body really, truly under the skin.
"If the intestines go down, the impact will be"
horrendous, it’ll be catastrophic for them.
So we've got to fix the hernias up straight away.
It's going to be dangerous, of course, but don't worry.
We're going to look after him.
"- Okay. - Let’s do it."
Here we go, little guys.
Number one.
Look, this is a high risk operation
because they’re such little mites.
"We have to anaesthetise, and that in itself is a high risk."
Then we have to very carefully
reduce the hernias after we open them up
in a sterile fashion, get rid of all the stuff that's outside,
put it back in, and then stitch carefully
where the hernia is.
Here we go, that was gentle.
So his hernia is quite deep
where you can push your finger
right into the abdomen or the tummy, if you like.
This has really affected him
and the body has tried to repair it.
It's a big defect for such a little dog.
Rob has encountered scar tissue from a previous injury,
making the task of repairing Monty's groin
extremely challenging.
Smaller puppy with a bigger hernia
makes it a lot harder,
that's for sure.
"Despite the difficulties, Rob has been able to return"
the protruding intestine back inside the abdomen.
We're on our way to closing little man.
How's he going?
Okay, that’s the last suture.
Now into the humidicrib where he’ll stay warm,
have a little bit of oxygen and wake up.
Good boy, there's tissues everywhere. Trying to clear all
that, get it all back into the abdomen and then close it
over for him was not an easy task,
but I'm really happy he's gone well.
Here we are, look at you.
Aren’t you gorgeous?
There you go. Cuddle him and keep him warm.
"We did it. A bit complicated, but he's alright."
While Vicki nurses the recovering Monty,
Okay. One down. Let's start again.
Rob and Nurse Britt get to work
on his larger brother, Kingston.
That's going right down into the abdomen.
Despite on the outside,
appearing a much bigger hernia. This one has been
"a lot less complicated. His oxygen levels up 100%."
How goods that? You’re a good little man, aren’t you?
Looking good.
Okay.
Done.
We’re two thirds of the way there.
This sort of surgery,
I have three lives in my hands.
Three lives. Little tiny lives.
And so, yeah, I'm adrenaline charged
right through it until the very end.
So precious you little guys.
Kingston and Monty have come through
their operations with flying colours.
Okay, number three.
Now little man, where’s your hernial area?
There it is there.
No dramas.
Turns out the littlest was the hardest.
Just doing the skin sutures now
and all the skin sutures will be buried.
"So there's no external sutures for these puppies to pull it."
"Because not only will they try and pull their own,"
they'll try and pull each others out
once they're really running around.
Well, that's all of them.
All done.
Thank goodness.
A short time later, Chip rejoins brothers Kingston
and Monty and their very relieved carer, Vicki.
Organizations like Jack Russell Rescue
couldn't survive or provide the care needed for puppies
" like Chip, Kingston and Monty"
without support and donations
from generous hearted companies
like Savourlife.
Savourlife have been fabulous to us
at Jack Russell Rescue in feeding our dogs
healthy, great food.
Good girl.
Also with their donations we were able to build
some outdoor structures over our playruns
so that we have somewhere to show our dogs
when people come to visit them.
Hey, at last number three.
They're all done.
And they're all just sleepy but ready to go, I'd say.
Just keep a watch on them.
I’ll check them again in ten days for you
and make sure everything's alright.
That they've healed well.
Otherwise, I'm really happy.
"- Everything's good. - Thank you. "
Pleasure.
It was stressful waiting for the puppies,
but I'm glad and I'm relieved that they're now recovering.
All I want is if they go into forever homes now
they've really come into this world with a lot of difficulties.
And now these puppies deserve a
good crack at life and a great home.