Blaze is a special little one. He'd greet me at the door almost every evening. If he was in another room, when I opened the door he would trot down the hallway to greet me, even before we started going outside. Blaze is very polite. He would look up at me to ask if he could go down the ramp to the grass. When I would nod yes he'd trot down the ramp. When he wanted to wander in another direction he'd ask before doing so. He waited for the yes nod. Just 2 days before his intestinal woes he was bouncing on the grass playing with me like a youngster. A week ago Tuesday evening after I got home Blaze wasn't doing well. He'd been fine that morning. He looked so terribly ill. I called and our vet wasn't on call so I talked to the vet that was. The next morning I called and Larry said he'd see Blaze at 3. Larry did an ultrasound and we could see fluid in the abdomen. I said "if that is a tumor that ruptured and you don't go in I'll lose him". He checked the schedule and went in right then. What we found initially was bloody fluid and fecal matter. It wasn't long before the hole was found in the small intestines, almost the size of a pea. Larry flushed the abdomen twice before beginning surgery. He cut out the hole section and stitched the intestines and mesentary back together. Before he closed he flushed again. All of Blazes insides were outside the body cavity in an effort to remove every bit of fecal matter. I asked if there was an antibiotic that could be put directly into the abdomen to kill the bacteria from the fecal matter. Larry said our organs are not friendly to foreign substances. I said but if we don't will he be able to pull through. He thought about and came up with one that would work, diluted it down with 18.5 cc's of fluids and before he put in the last stitch he squirted it into Blazes abdomen. He gave Blaze a baytril injection and a diluted torbugesic injection. Now it was wait and see. I left Blaze at the clinic while I went to PetSmart. When I got back Blaze was alert and ready to go home. Blaze needed a hefty dose of injectable baytril twice a day for 2 weeks. Larry said if Blaze made it a week he should be o.k. Well today is the week and Blaze is still with us. Blaze met me at the door last evening after work, wobbly and tired looking. I carried Blaze outside and he looked up sweetly to ask to get down. I put him down and he wandered a short distance on the rough stubby grass then tottered up the ramp to the door asking to go back in. Blaze is 6 yrs old and I expect a longer recovery due to the type of surgery and his age but am hopeful that Blaze will make a full recovery. I can breathe a bit easier now. Warm hugs to all. tle [Posted in FML issue 5379]