Videos Heartwarming News & Entertainment
Here’s why you should always listen to your gut when it comes to your dog!
Video Transcript
Rocky Kanaka (Animal Advocate):
The experts were wrong about Nala and it almost cost her life.

Drew:
I was feeling her stomach, It just felt incredibly tight. I was like “it’s almost like her stomach’s in knots.”
Rocky Kanaka:
Nala is a perfect example of why you should trust your gut when it comes to your dog. Because of everything going on right now, the wait time at a vet can be extremely long. And the first hospital they went to merely brushed off her symptoms.
Sarah:
And they just kept going “Oh yeah, yeah. So she’s puking” and they did an x-ray and they’re like, “We don’t see anything on the x-ray.”
Drew:
So we went home, got a call at five in the morning and it was pretty much, she’s not gonna make it. And when we arrived, she had a oxygen mask on, You could see it in her eyes. She was just terrified.

Sarah:
It was truly like she was just so sick and on her last strand. We’re asking like, “How did this happen three hours ago? You said she was fine.” Just kind of disregarded our fears.
Drew:
They told us “Look, we’re gonna call this other hospital and we’ll see if they have somebody who can do the surgery, because otherwise we’re gonna have to wait some amount of hours.
Rocky Kanaka:
Time was running out and they had to drive across the city to their next best available option: Dove Lewis Hospital, because they knew if they didn’t fight for Nala, no one else would.
Sarah:
So I pulled the car around. She was super cold. We had to blast the car with the heat.
Drew:
They took her in immediately. They had to get all her vitals under control before she could even go into surgery.

Sarah:
They called us halfway through, they told us that she had the Mesenteric Torsion and explained muscles that hold together her small intestine at essentially twisted inside out and cut off the circulation to the rest of her small intestine.
Drew & Sarah Crowther (Nala’s Adopter):
She’s been there 10 years and she’s never seen the dog get off the table.
And we’re like, “Well, you’re all, you’re, you’re already in surgery. You gotta do it. You have to try.
After the surgery is when we found out that well, really, she told we had a 5% chance or so to make it through this. And we were just like, “Oh my goodness.” We’re just like “Holy… okay!”

Rocky Kanaka:
Even after surviving that dangerous surgery, Nala had to wait before she could go home.
Sarah:
She stayed at the hospital for another week.
Drew:
It was like every day was like day today.
Sarah:
And they would promise us like, We’ll send you a photo of her cause we can’t see her.
Drew:
And yeah, they took really good care of Nala and really good care of us. We just can’t believe that she made it through.
Rocky Kanaka:
The good news: Nola is back to her loving, happy self. She was even a flower girl in Drew and Sarah’s wedding. And here’s some more great news: So many people were touched by Nola’s story that they donated to help cover the cost of her surgery that totaled $17,000.

Drew:
You should take the time to know your pet and know when something’s wrong. Knowing that her belly didn’t feel normal, I wouldn’t have known that if I didn’t give her belly rubs or something like that. And to take the time to be with her. Trust your gut and trust what they’re telling you. And we just need to listen well sometimes.
Sarah:
Remember that your pets feel your emotions. And when they’re in a stressful situation, you don’t want them to feel extra stressed. Control ’em as much as you can.
Rocky Kanaka:
I’ll do whatever it takes to help a dog. If you feel the same, share this. And I’d love to have you on this journey. Consider becoming to a supporter. Just hit that supporter button and for more smiles, go follow Nala.
