FRANKIE the great dane is as big as a horse and has proven to have the heart of a lion.

His owner Jenny Hoppenbrouwer, of Woongarrah, nearly lost the gentle giant when he suffered acute renal failure - a complete shutdown of both kidneys - back in April this year.The dog defied the odds to make a remarkable recovery and is now back to his larger than life self.

"It's an absolute miracle he survived," Mrs Hoppenbrouwer said."He nearly died several times and they thought they were going to have to put him down because he was so critically ill."

Mrs Hoppenbrouwer said it was the team at The Central Coast Veterinary Centre at Gosford and North Wyong - particularly veterinarians Chad and Tammy Acciari- that saved his life using human treatments and around-the-clock care.

"Tammy was researching all over the world to find cures and ended up giving him human drugs and put him on peritoneal dialysis," she said.

Local renal unit nurses even helped source fluids for his dialysis.

"Chad slept at the vet practice every night to look after Frankie and drain and replace his fluids every two hours," Mrs Hoppenbrouwer said.

"They gave him 24-hour care and worked tirelessly on him."

Frankie Hoppenbrouwer had severe swelling and could only eat a special preparation of blended food. Frankie spent five weeks at the clinic and in a critical condition for 14 days.

He had IV drip lines in both legs as well as feeding tubes in his neck and dialysis tubes in his abdomen to his peritoneal cavity.

"Frankie lost so much weight and just looked liked skin and bones with sores on his legs," Mrs Hoppenbrouwer said. At times his head and feet doubled in size due to oedema.

Now the adorable two-year-old is back to his ideal healthy weight of a whopping 70kg+.

Dr Tammy Acciari said while it was difficult to sustain that high level of critical care for so long, it was a fantastic outcome.

She said Frankie was "famous" at the centre and his story could become a case report in veterinary research journals."These are the cases you never forget, the ones that were never meant to survive, but you never gave up on."

 

THE INSIDE STORY

■ Believe it or not, despite his size, Frankie is an "inside dog"

■ Frankie was unable to produce any urine from his kidneys for three days, allowing dangerous toxins to build up in his blood

■ This condition results in death unless dialysis is done immediately

■ The toxin or cause of Frankie's fever remains a mystery

 

THE INSIDE STORY - THE VET VERSION

■ A regular client of the Central Coast Vet Centre, Frankie had been staying in Sydney for a week. He was seen by a Sydney vet & placed on antibiotics for a fever of unknown origin (FUO).He had no other signs, but  was unusually quiet.

■ 3 Days later, the owner phoned our vets & asked us to wait back at night. She drove straight from Sydney, Frankie was suddenly worse. They arrived at 8.30pm.

■ Frankie presented with a fever of 40.9 C & was collapsed. His initial blood work showed his kidney levels to be almost normal with creatinine only mildly increased 180 (40-140). His temperature improved back to 38 'C overnight, via IV fluids drips.

■ Over the next 24-36hrs his follow up blood test were to reveal a very different picture- urea increased to 21 (2.5-9.6) & creatinine off the charts to >1200 (44-159)

■ Frankie entered Acute Renal Failure, of the worst kind - a state called Anuria (no urine produced for 3 days). Peritoneal dialysis was initiated immediately & every two hours around the clock with diuretics to try to kick start his kidneys. Multiple abdominal tubes were sutured in place to access his abdomen, along with an omentalectomy to reduce risk of tube blockage. A pharyngostomy feeding tube was placed through his neck to feed him. A special food mix was blended with medication & fed every two hours. A difficult task, artificially feeding his huge body, to maintain his weight. He was losing protein+++ in his urine. Muscle loss only made his kidneys struggle to recover while filtering all this protein. It took 10 weeks to regain his weight.