Drama for Bluey as vets save 14-week-old puppy with rare condition

A veterinary team has saved a 14-week-old puppy suffering from a rare condition by performing “high risk” life-saving surgery.

Lurcher Bluey was taken to Arundell Vets’ 24-hour hospital in Doncaster after he stopped eating and drinking and began vomiting, breathing heavily and became extremely lethargic.

An x-ray revealed he had a diaphragmatic hernia, a condition in which abdominal organs push through a defect in the diaphragm muscle and into the chest cavity, believed to have been congenital in Bluey’s case.

Senior vet Lloyd Groves and a team of six veterinary nurses performed the advanced surgery required to repair the hernia, and Bluey has since made a full recovery.

‘Not commonly seen’

Dr Groves said: “A diaphragmatic hernia is something not commonly seen and I haven’t personally seen one ever, in 11 years as a vet.

“He was very sad and quiet and very uncomfortable around his tummy. At first, we wondered if it could be parvovirus or a blockage in the bowel.”

He said he was “really proud” of his team, adding: “It wasn’t without risk but patients who survive past 24 hours are normally OK.

“Those 24 hours are worrying for the owner, but they were really over the moon with how things went as they put a lot of trust in us.”