Suffield Veterinary Hospital

May 2006 Patient of the Month

           Pictured above is Lucky Little Luke, without a doubt the teeniest pet we have ever selected as our Patient of the Month.  He is owned by Susan Payne of Suffield, who has been raising, breeding and showing champion Chihuahuas since 1974, soon after she graduated from Suffield High School.  Lucky Little Luke is the 7^th generation under Mrs. Payne’s kennel name Toltec.  (Toltec was a Mexican civilization which had a small dog called the Techihi, a predecessor to the Chihuahua.)  All Mrs. Payne’s Toltec Chihuahuas in the 7 generations behind Lucky Little Luke have been AKC champions.

Lucky Little Luke may seem like an overly long moniker for a dog weighing only 10 ounces.  But it is how he acquired the name that earned him recognition as our Patient of the Month. 

A few of weeks ago Mrs. Payne brought in Del, a pretty little Chihuahua, who was overdue for delivering her litter.  A quick x-ray showed one large puppy, and we elected to perform a cesarean section to assure its safety.  But when Dr. Huntington delivered him she found he was born with most of his intestines outside his body, protruding through the area of his umbilicus or belly button.  His intestines were an angry purple color (they should be pink) suggesting that they had compromised blood flow.  This is not an uncommon abnormality, but is one which has a very, very poor survival rate.

Fortunately for Lucky Little Luke, Dr. Herrman was also present in our O.R. at the time, and offered to try to repair the abnormality, enabling Dr. Huntington was able to continue finishing Del’s surgery uninterrupted.  Even though he was the size of a mouse, Dr. Herrman opened his abdomen wider, gently repositioned the bowels into their proper place with sterile swabs, and placed careful stitches to pull the belly back together.  As she did this she related that she was especially familiar with the procedure because her own nephew, Luke, was born with the same anomaly and required surgery immediately after birth.  We all decided that, if the puppy was lucky enough to survive, he would need to be named Luke.

Then next morning, Mrs. Payne dropped off a photo, captioned “Lucky Little Luke and Del, 18 hours post-op” showing the puppy nursing happily off his mom.  Only when he’d passed his one week birthday did we start to believe that he’d actually make it. 

After 30 years of success in the breed, Mrs. Payne has been asked by Kennel Club Books to write a book on Chihuahuas, which is due out in 2007.  Lucky Little Luke is still very young, and a long way from joining his Toltec ancestors in the show ring.  But as you can see in this photo, taken at the Payne’s home by the talented photographer from Motophoto in Enfield, he looks every bit the high achiever we know him to be. 

Suffield Veterinary Hospital

Dr. Ann Huntington - Dr. Anita Sabellico - Dr. Dawn Burke

 Dr. Jean Herrman – Dr. Tracy Powell

577 East Street South (Route 159), Suffield, CT 06078 (860) 668-4041