I'm not quite ready to go to my new home.

What an absolute whirlwind! SPIN’s Emmett recently was surrendered into SPIN with a medical condition called Pectus Excavatum (yes that is a medical condition, and no it is not a Harry Potter spell. This is a rare congenital condition that some dogs are born with, where their breast bone dips inwards (concave) decreasing the chest space. Because of this, a lot of these dogs will have breathing difficulties or heart problems long term. So limiting their exercise, keeping them quiet and calm, no running or roughhousing or playing frisbee or ball or hikes or swimming or having fun. Or else the dog will have a massive amount of trouble catching their breath. And this would have to be for their entire life.

Now does that sound reasonable for any dog? More specifically for a standard poodle? And a mischievous puppy at that? Nope!

The tricky part is that you have a very small window of opportunity to surgically fix this condition - ideally before 5 months of age. This is because the cartilage and bones are still relatively pliable and the pup still has lots of growth to allow for continued improvement. And our Emmett is already 6 months! Yikes! So surgery had to happen ASAP!!!

Thankfully, SPIN was on top of it and had him scheduled in right away for surgery! His foster mom whisked him down for a squeeze in spot at Ontario Veterinary College, and surgery happened - wait for it - THE SAME DAY!!! Amazing coordination!

The surgery itself was thankfully very successful considering we were outside the ideal window. Thank goodness! The surgery involved installing a metal plate along the entire sternum to pull the concave section out and more inline with where the sternum should be. This provides a LOT more space in the chest so that he can comfortably breathe!

Emmett won over the entire hospital - vet students were lining up to see this cool medical case and were so thankful to SPIN for not only helping Emmett, but allowing them the opportunity to see this condition in real life and learn from it.

And so SPIN’s Emmett is upgraded and unstoppable! He is en route home to recover and once given the medical OK, to slowly increase his activity level, allowing his lungs time to get used to all the extra space! He was already a tornado of energy, his foster mom is a bit scared as to how crazy he’ll be now that he can actually BREATHE! So exciting for him!

SPIN’s Bionic Emmet 2.0: Now With Enhanced Features