ohmidog!

Kabang, the dog who lost the top of her snout when she stepped between two girls and an oncoming motorcyle, is headed back to her home in the Philippines after a series of surgeries and treatments at the University of California, Davis.

Kabang was brought to the veterinary hospital last October — not to have her snout restored, but for treatment of the gaping wound left where it once was.

Complications arose when veterinarians found she had heartworm disease and cancer.

“We were able to treat all of the complications that arose with the best specialists available,”  said Professor Frank Verstraete, chief of the hospital’s dentistry and oral surgery service.

In a five-hour surgery, they were able to close up her facial wound, leaving her less likely to fall victim to infections.

Kabang was given a final examination and officially released from the veterinary hospital Monday, according to a UC Davis press release.

Kabang leapt into the path of a motorcycle heading toward the daughter and niece of her owner in late 2011. The motorcycle’s front wheel ripped off her nose and the top her jaw. The girls were not injured.

The dog’s heroics, and the condition they left her in, sparked donations from around the world, and hundreds donated to the private organization Care for Kabang to make her treatments possible.

Kabang’s heartworm and cancer treatments were successfully completed in February, and the veterinary team determined that the dog was in good health and ready for the dental and facial procedures.

On March 5, veterinary surgeons first performed oral surgery to remove two of the dog’s upper teeth and reconstruct one eyelid that had been damaged by the motorcycle. Then they prepared for the maxillofacial surgery to correct the dog’s facial injury.

The nearly five-hour surgery on March 27 closed Kabang’s facial wound with skin flaps that were brought forward from the top and sides of her head. Following that procedure, surgeons reconstructed her nasal openings by inserting stents that would allow two new permanent nostrils to form.

Because it was not possible to reconstruct Kabang’s snout and a functional upper jaw, she’ll never look like she did before her accident.

“We were extremely pleased with the overall progress Kabang made while at UC Davis,” said Gina Davis, head of outpatient medicine at the veterinary medical teaching hospital and a clinical veterinary professor. “Kabang ideally completed each stage of treatment throughout the nearly eight months she was with us, and it was a pleasure having her as a patient.”

“We are so appreciative to Rudy Bunggal and his family in the Philippines for entrusting our veterinary team with their precious dog over these many months,” said Professor David Wilson, director of the veterinary medical teaching hospital.

Wilson also acknowledged Kabang’s veterinarians Anton Lim and Ed Unson of  the Philippines, and Care for Kabang coordinator Karen Kenngott of Buffalo, N.Y.

More detailed background information and a timeline chronicling Kabang’s treatments are available at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital website.

(Top photo by Don Preisler / UC Davis; Kabang with veterinarian Anton Lim, by Karin Higgins / UC Davis; Kabang at her intake, by Karin Higgins / UC Davis; Kabang with a toy, by Don Preisler, UC Davis)

Ace and I had a visitor over the holidays — a highly vocal, but not too demanding 12-year-old mutt named Gracie.

My cousin and her husband in Charlotte were headed off on a cruise and they were having problems finding a petsitter for Gracie, who has never been kenneled. So I volunteered.

It wasn’t my first adventure in petsitting. I’d had a handful of canine guests in my home in Baltimore, and served as wrangler for three more while housesitting in Santa Fe. I’d learned, both times, that most issues that come up can be easily worked out, usually by the dogs themselves.

Sweet and low maintenance as Gracie was, there were some problems early on.

I decided they should eat in separate areas, just to be safe, so I’d fill one bowl, and call one dog. Both, because their names rhymed, came. When I said “stay,” both stayed. When I attached their names to the commands – ”Ace stay, Grace come” — that didn’t work either.

Finally, I got one to the porch, and fed the other inside, confusing them both in the process.

On day two, Gracie stopped eating entirely. Even blobs of liverwurst — in which her pills get hidden — had no appeal to her. Wanting her to get at least a little nutrition, I smeared peanut butter on her nose and let her lick it off.

Eventually, I broke out the most special of my special dog treats, and after a good sniffing, she decided to try one. On day three, she was eating normally again, and I’d figured out that feeding them both at the same time in the same place worked best.

By the second day, I’d noticed Gracie, who spent the first night on an extra dog bed, was eyeing mine. It’s only a foot off the ground, but she just stood by it, put her head on it and looked at it longingly. Being old and arthritic — her, not me – I gave her a boost and she spent almost the whole day there.

Not until the next day did I learn that she didn’t need my help — just my permission.

I worried that Ace, who likes my bed too, would take offense at her occupation of it, but, once I told him it was OK, he just jumped in and joined her.

If they were positioned right, there was plenty of room for both. With only minor repositioning, I could fit in, too.

For walks, I’d take them both on a short one, then give Ace a longer one. That seemed to suit them fine.

What I never totally figured out was Gracie’s whining/singing. She whines when she’s happy, she whines when she’s not. She whines when she wants something. She whines, I think, when she wants nothing at all, except maybe to hear her own voice.

Ace, puzzled by that behavior, quickly got used to it. At first, he’d rush to her side, but eventually — as I kept saying, “What is it, girl, what do you want?” — she became background music to him.

Just about every worry I had, when it came to the two of them, turned out to not be worth worrying about. As long as I supplied the food, water, walks and love, they’d easily figure out the rest — the less help from me, the better.

It’s us humans who make things complicated.