April 25, 2011 Uncategorized

Amos, a 5 Year Old "Living Legend"

Amos, a 5 Year Old "Living Legend"

Every year, The Animal Medical Center honors “Living Legends,” patients who have survived what seemed to be insurmountable odds. Unlike most living legends, who have distinguished careers and are silver haired recipients, the 2011 AMC Living Legends are two youngsters who both have long lives left to live because of the care given at The AMC. Today, I am writing about Amos, a 5 year old Burmese cat. Our other living legend is Herbie, who I have written about previously.

Amos’ story starts in early 2007, when he was just 10 months old. After a normal kittenhood, he began vomiting and his regular veterinarians determined he had developed a gas-distended and inflamed esophagus and stomach. It seemed nothing was going out of the stomach and everything was coming back up. Pretty much all cats vomit, but poor Amos was losing weight and was down to barely six pounds.

Amos came to The AMC when treatment elsewhere was unsuccessful. Dr. Janet Kovak McClaran of the Surgery Service performed a Bilroth I surgery. Named after a 19th century human surgeon, the Bilroth I performed on Amos removed a thickened part of his stomach which was blocking the exit of food into the intestine and reattached the stomach directly to the small intestine. Within three weeks following surgery, Amos was a new cat. He was not vomiting and had gained one pound on his way to being an eight pound cat.

But the story doesn’t stop here. Eight months ago, Amos returned to The AMC. This time he was critically ill, requiring urgent, emergency surgery. Dr. Sarah Petre was the emergency surgeon on call. The AMC veterinarians were concerned for an intestinal blockage or worse, leaking intestines. What they found during an abdominal exploratory surgery was an eight inch segment of intestine twisted upon itself and deprived of its blood supply, but unrelated to the previous surgery. Amos underwent a second remodeling of his intestine to remove the twisted segment and reattach the ends. Without this surgery, Amos would have certainly died.

Both Amos and our other Living Legend, Herbie, will be attending The AMC’s Third Annual Living Legends Luncheon. If you would like to attend the luncheon and meet these incredible animals click here for more information.

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This may also be found in the “Tales from the Pet Clinic” blog on WebMD.com.

For over a century, The Animal Medical Center has been a national leader in animal health care, known for its expertise, innovation and success in providing routine, specialty and emergency medical care for companion animals. Thanks in part to the enduring generosity of donors, The AMC is also known for its outstanding teaching, research and compassionate community funds. Please help us to continue these efforts. Send your contribution to: The Animal Medical Center, 510 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065. For more information, visit www.amcny.org. To make an appointment, please call 212.838.7053.

Tags: AMC, amos, animal, animal hospital, animal medical center, animals, ann hohenhaus, bilroth, cat, cat diet, feline, health, janet kovak mcclaran, living legend, new york vet, pet, pet health, pet healthcare, pet owner, pets, sarah petre, Surgery, tales from the pet clinic, vet, veterinarian, veterinary care, WebMD,

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