The Science Pawdcast

Bunsen's Battle: A Heartfelt Tale of Emergency Surgery and Miraculous Recovery

• Jason Zackowski

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What would you do if your beloved pet's life was hanging in the balance?

In this emotionally charged episode, we recount the heart-stopping ordeal our dear science dog, Bunsen, faced when he suddenly showed signs of severe bloat.

From the horrifying moment of recognizing his distress to the frantic rush to the emergency vet, we share the critical importance of swift action in life-threatening situations. Hear about the initial tests, the urgency of further investigation, and how the support from our social media community helped us through these tense moments.

Join us as we navigate the emotional rollercoaster of waiting for Bunsen's life-saving surgery. The night was filled with an incredible mix of anxiety and hope, compounded by an unexpected delay due to another emergency case. We'll also share the heartwarming encounter with a former student, Jennifer, who now works at the clinic and helped provide some solace during this stressful time. The support from our online followers truly underscored Bunsen's special place in many hearts, making the wait both bearable and poignant.

The climax of Bunsen's journey comes with the nerve-wracking surgical procedure where critical decisions had to be made. You'll hear about the successful removal of a massive growth and the immense relief that followed. As we discuss his miraculous recovery and the ongoing concerns about his health, you'll also get a glimpse into how our other pets, Beaker and Bernoulli, reacted to Bunsen's return home.

With heartfelt gratitude, we thank our community and encourage support for local charities, reflecting on the overwhelming love and support we've received. Don't miss this deeply moving episode that highlights the bond between humans and their pets and the incredible impact of community support.


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Speaker 1:

Hello pet enthusiasts. My name is Jason Zakowski. I'm the dog dad of Bunsen, beaker and Bernoulli the science dogs of social media.

Speaker 2:

My co-host is Hi there, I'm Chris Zakowski.

Speaker 1:

I am the dog mom to bunsen, beaker and bernoulli and the cat mom to ginger yeah, it caught me saying his name, because we're still his, we're still the parents of him oh, he's showing off his shave oh, if you're watching live, chris is with Bunsen in Bunsen's cage.

Speaker 1:

So Bunsen is on two weeks like pretty serious rest because he's had some major surgery. So Chris is with him right now. So this is a very it's a special quick, short pet chat. It's going to be mostly information and then we'll take some questions. At the end I'll also do a full write-up in our newsletter which comes out on Sunday, and also the Paw Pack. We can go into more details tomorrow for Paw Pack chat. But a lot of people had questions and, yeah, we were overwhelmed with the ability to answer questions. So here we go. So I think we're just going to talk about what happened over the last two days and then, chris, you can jump in when you want. Does that sound good?

Speaker 1:

absolutely yeah, okay, so was it yesterday. This happened yesterday or two days ago? Two days ago, right, yeah?

Speaker 2:

it happened thursday morning thursday morning.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so thursday morning, um, chris and I go to the gym. Not a totally normal thing that we do, chris, actually not, I don't normally go on Thursday. Oh, that's right, you don't yeah.

Speaker 2:

Because? But my trainer has a bachelor party and so he asked me to switch, and so I switched my. I ended up not going to the gym. Anyways, it doesn't matter. Yeah, you had the gym and I had physio.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so in between you going, you mentioned that Bunsen had thrown up a couple times Not out of the ordinary, right, because he has a sensitive stomach and he's thrown up before. But when I got home I was the only one home and it was pretty.

Speaker 2:

No, the kids were home.

Speaker 1:

No, they weren't. They weren't home, they were down, they were left, yeah, and it was very evident within about 10 minutes that Bunsen was in some big distress. So he he was constantly vomiting and he wasn't vomiting up anything and he was uncomfortable and that that those two things are like a big sign of bloat in dogs. And some people were asking about what are some of the symptoms for bloat in dogs. And well, chris and I aren't vets and this is easily searchable vomiting is one constant salivation and then restlessness and an inability to get comfortable. And that was the thing that really made me so concerned for Bunsen, because he would try to lay down and it was so uncomfortable he would get back up again. And that's when I that's when I told Chris we got to take him to emerge, you had just got home, and then we whisked him in immediately to emerge. Do you want to tell a little bit now, chris?

Speaker 2:

Sure. So on our way to emerge I called them and I said we're coming, bunsen is a patient, or has been a patient at your clinic, because basically we just had the MRI done at that clinic. And they said how long will you be? And I said, oh, google maps says 15 minutes and they're like perfect, we'll get ready. We know Bunsen is coming. I said Jason had called our other vet and it sounded potentially like the bloat or an obstruction.

Speaker 1:

We got there and then they whisked him in immediately because bloat is life-threatening. So for people who have sadly lost a pet to bloat like if a dog can walk into the clinic with bloat they have basically a 50-50 chance of survival. Like it's very serious. Sorry, chris, go ahead.

Speaker 2:

And minutes count.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Minutes count.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you want me to tell the rest, or you got some more.

Speaker 2:

Oh, we went, we waited in the waiting room and then they whisked us back into a patient room and then I'm like, oh man. And she said would you like some water?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, as soon as you go back there immediately, it's all oh would you like some water?

Speaker 2:

I'm like no, actually, yes, I'd like some water yeah so we were sitting back there and but we were in the right place. Yeah, they would be fully prepared to deal with any issue that came up, and we were just waiting so the vet came back and they're like we suspect, we suspect bloat.

Speaker 1:

His stomach's bloated and he's very uncomfortable. We are going to move forward with the procedure to do surgery in case his stomach has twisted, which is the torsion part which is crazy deadly Bloat. Right Bloat is not as dangerous as the torsion. That's the two-parter in the thing. It's called GDV, g-a-d-v If you search it up. What's the G-D-V is gastric dilation vulvulus, so it's a big deal.

Speaker 2:

So they were Well she, while she was talking to us, they had already run blood work. Yeah, to test for the lactate.

Speaker 1:

For lactate, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Lactate in his blood. Yeah, and if that is super high, then that shows that the blood vessels are constricted. Yeah, and that's a sign of bloat, of torsion Chris. Of the torsion. Sorry yeah, and then that means the tissues are dying and you got to get in there.

Speaker 1:

That means it's dire yeah.

Speaker 2:

Dire.

Speaker 1:

So his lactates were fine, right. So they're like this is good.

Speaker 1:

His lactates are fine, which means maybe it's a partial torsion, Maybe he just has bloat so the next it's an obstruction, maybe it's a yeah, the next step was relieving the pressure in his stomach and that required, sadly, intubate intubating the poor guy and putting a tube down into his stomach to relieve gas. It's air in bloat, sometimes fluid, and that's where things started not to add up. That's when Dr Keyes got involved. So you might have saw the post I made about Dr Keyes, who saved Bunsen's life because there was no gas or fluid in his stomach and that was super odd, which means it wasn't bloat. He did not have bloat. There was something else and they ultrasound him at that time to see that his stomach was distended. But the shocking thing was, on ultrasound, what they were looking at wasn't a distended stomach. What?

Speaker 2:

was it, Chris? It wasn't a stomach at all no no, it was a mass that was fluid filled sack. First, when you were on the phone with dr keys, he asked you do you think, duncan, or do you think bunsen ate a toy? Yeah, and we're like oh, it's possible, but probably not. He's like what about a ball? We're like no, bunsen doesn't really like, but probably not. He's like what about a ball? We're like no, bunsen doesn't really like toys?

Speaker 1:

He doesn't.

Speaker 2:

he could have eaten the squeaker or a moose leg or something like a bone. Yeah, cause we had gone for a walk the night before and I hadn't given him like a chew and the choose we buy are not rawhide. But then I was kicking myself, thinking what if the supplier told the person that it was?

Speaker 1:

not rawhide, and it was rawhide like I just had, so much you were. But then it didn't make any sense because it was huge like it was huge, and so they found a sack and they're like we.

Speaker 2:

This is so curious, it's extraordinary. We have no idea what it is yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Dr Keyes said he's been a surgeon for 20 years, working in eMERGE, and he said his words were what we're seeing is extraordinary, which I think if you're a surgeon must mean it's like pretty bizarre that it's extraordinary. Keyes said Bunsen is stable. He's a super strong dog so they could start exploratory surgery. Of course we're like do you want us to try and go see what it is and take it out? And we're like, yes, obviously, because the other option is Bunsen's death. We were not going for that at all, but he said OK, it's near.

Speaker 1:

We've all had a long day here at the clinic and I don't have my top team. They are here tomorrow morning. I would like for us to start completely fresh tomorrow, because this is we have no idea what we're walking into, that we've never seen anything like this before in ultrasound. And if we go in now, I don't have my best people and I he said I'm. He said I'm fatigued. And if it go in now, I don't have my best people. And he said I'm fatigued. And if it was an emergency, of course we would go in, but this is not right now a life-threatening thing because we have his vital stable and that's when we got to go see him Go ahead, chris.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you call ahead and say is it okay if we come? And they're like yep, yep, and I said can I bring five or six people?

Speaker 1:

because everybody wanted to see Bunsen everybody wanted to come so.

Speaker 2:

Adam worked and Adam worked until eight and Annalise came and Gord, my stepdad, came. Uh, duncan worked until nine o'clock, so, uh, that didn't work out for him to come. Jason myself were there in the room.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and Bunsen was really happy to see all of us.

Speaker 2:

When we walked in one of my former students.

Speaker 1:

Oh my God, yeah, you can tell everybody this story.

Speaker 2:

And so her name is Jennifer.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, she's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Super awesome. I taught her grade nine and in grade nine she was just like a super awesome kid, yeah, super friendly, super awesome. She used to work at a clinic called Deer Park Clinic here in town. But I saw her. I'm like, oh, you're here now. And she's yeah, I'm here and she, she. We had a little side hug Because we're like there's six people like walking, it's so awkward. And so we had a side hug because we're like there's six people like walking, it's so awkward. And so we had a side hug and she was walking with me. And then she said when I came in tonight and saw zakowski, she's like oh no, is it, is it bunsen? And then she's, it was bunsen. And then she said that she was talking to the other people at the clinic saying, do you know this dog? And some of the other people were like, yeah, zakowski are teachers. So we, some of the other people, were like, yeah, is a Kowski are teachers. So we've taught, obviously, other people at that clinic.

Speaker 1:

I taught Dr he's kid actually.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, yeah. And so then at the door she said no. I told them, I said this dog, and that's what got you Jason at that time. So do you want to talk about that part?

Speaker 1:

in a second. Yeah, like it it. At that point it hit me that it wasn't just us that was worried about Bunsen. We have a really large Twitter account. Let you know Instagram. Hello, I'm so glad everybody you know Instagram. Hello, I'm so glad everybody is watching us on Instagram. Our Instagram and Facebook have grown quite a bit.

Speaker 1:

But I had posted that Bunsen was in some dire shape and not really looked at social media until we went in and it was exploded and everybody was being so kind and wishing us luck and Bunsen was trending number one in Canada and that's a stupid thing to brag about and I'm not trying to do that. It just that's what it was. And that's when it hit me that she was like no, this, there's so many people concerned about Bunsen. I guess that I maybe put some pressure on the team that night. I don't know, but that's what this the vet tech was getting at. Chris, she's, this dog is. This dog is special, but everybody's dog is special. But it really got me because I knew at that point that there were so many more people than just us that was worried about him. Yeah, so that was a tough night because we were so happy to see him and we were.

Speaker 1:

He was uncomfortable and it was a mixture of wishing him luck for tomorrow but also potentially saying goodbye, which was rough because his surgery was it going to be in the morning? And like if things like dr keys was like he's like this Keyes was like he's like this could he could die, like this surgery could kill him. We don't know what we're going to see, we don't know what's in there, like dogs have died in surgery for before, and so that was really tough to be wishing him luck but also, in a way, saying goodbye. But we didn't none of us said goodbye to him.

Speaker 2:

No, I said to him Bunsen, you're going to go for surgery tomorrow and you are going to wake up and you are going to come home and everything is going to be fine. You're going to be strong. You're going to be brave. You're going to make it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Uh, cause the other alternative was not an option?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, um, so you didn't sleep much that night.

Speaker 2:

No, and so typically when Jason can't sleep, I just say to him oh, just close your eyes and go to sleep. And Jason's like I can't do that, I could not sleep. I could not sleep at all. And Jason was sleeping like a baby and I was just like man now.

Speaker 1:

I know what it's like when you can't sleep. I had a deep and dreamless sleep. And then we woke up that morning and we had to wait because the surgery was scheduled for first thing in the morning, and so we were waiting around and we're like you know what? Let's do some stuff. So we both we went to the gym for a little bit, like there's nothing else we could do yeah, my trainer's like why are you here?

Speaker 2:

because I said he's like how are you? I'm like not good and he said why, and I said my dog might die today oh what? Why are you here? And I said what are we gonna do? The surgery isn't happening right now no and otherwise I'm sitting at home. Yeah, I'm sitting at home, I'm not distracted. At least here I'm working out, I'm talking to you, I'm distracted.

Speaker 1:

There's something about lifting very heavy weights that keeps you focused, because if you screw up you die. So that's what I was thinking about. But I got a call from the clinic at the gym and I was like, oh, and they said we, with your permission, could we push the surgery back to one? A dire emergency just came in and bunsen is still really stable and he's on pain meds. And I'm like, of course, right, of course, that that dog can take our spot, because, like it, like the dog was gonna die, I think, if they didn't go into surgery. So they said yeah, he's scheduled for one.

Speaker 1:

And then they went through like a bunch of stuff. They called us again right before surgery, but it was like it's a spooky talk. They're like, okay, if things start to go downhill, they usually go downhill within the first 15, 20 minutes of surgery and we will give you a call. And I was like, oh god, but no news is good news. The longer you have to wait, that means that we're just working extremely hard. Things are going really well and we want to finish the whole thing before we call you. So I'll tell you that time from 1 to 1.30 was unbearably stressful. I think you were watching some stupid thing on YouTube with Annalise Chris to keep you occupied.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we were watching Kitchen Nightmares and then she turned on that show.

Speaker 1:

Like a murder mystery thing hey.

Speaker 2:

A murder mystery where I wasn't really paying attention, but I was paying attention. But let's just pause for a second. We basically had three choices. Choice one is the surgery goes smoothly. They're able to get what they need. Get it all out, sew them back up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, like dissect stuff, take it out.

Speaker 2:

Dissect stuff. Choice two was we open them up. We get what we can. There might still be stuff in there. Or we open it up and can't get at the mass, like it's in a location that you can't, and you can sew them up and then do steroids.

Speaker 1:

If it was a cancerous or something.

Speaker 2:

If it's cancerous to shrink it, or behind door. Number three you're on the table. On the table, it's everywhere, whatever. Because they had no idea what they were going in for, because it was so extraordinary. Choice three is they go in there and whatever, it is everywhere and they can't do anything. And then do you need? Did they want him to be woken up and for us to be there to say goodbye or just euthanize the button on the table. So I said like that was so terrible, that was a terrible talk, but I just kept reiterating we want choice number one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sorry you don't. We don't want choice number two or three. Sorry, we're only taking choice and choice number one, but I I made the hard call for choice number three. Chris, I didn't tell you about that but okay, so that first.

Speaker 2:

so that, yeah, you keep going.

Speaker 1:

That first half an hour was brutal, but after that first half an hour I was like okay, and then two o'clock rolled around.

Speaker 2:

And I was sitting with Annalise and I said, Annalise, every minute that goes by is a good minute.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

As we're watching Kitchen Nightmares with disgusting mold or whatever's in the kitchen and there's a frenzy. It's raw.

Speaker 1:

That's all I heard. I was actually packing orders to keep my mind busy. That's from our store, so that's what I was doing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, every minute that we're just sitting here, it's a good minute. She's, yeah, exactly. And then Jason's phone rang.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, this is about two, two 30, two, 30, right, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, your phone rings and I'm like, oh, it's the call. Is the call? No, it was Jason's dentist. Saying you are overdue for a cleaning yeah, can we book you in? Dentist. Saying you are overdue for a cleaning yeah, can we book you in. And so jason said hello. And then he's oh yeah, I was gonna call you, I'm overdue. And I'm like, okay, this is not the call we were waiting for, but jason hasn't had a phone call in. What?

Speaker 1:

they call me every year at this time to remind me to book in for a cleaning and a checkup for my teeth with our insurance it covers? What are the chances it's that day yeah, it was pretty stupid, I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 2:

Pretty stupid, yeah because then I'm like, okay, does jason have call waiting?

Speaker 3:

yeah oh.

Speaker 2:

So anyway, then you're like oh, I'll just book my appointment, blah, blah, blah. So you booked your appointment yeah and then every minute that went by was a good minute yeah.

Speaker 1:

And then it was about three when dr keys called and I could tell by his voice that when he called me to talk about this mass and this thing they'd never seen before, he had serious voice going on. I was like shit, this is bad. And then, but when he called me he had a bright and sunny voice and his first words were we, we got it all. And I just about broke down crying. We got it all. And then he explained what they did and it's unbelievable. The main there was a main mass that was enormous. It was 20 centimeters long, which is whatever. That is metric for our American friends. 20 centimeters to inches is just shy eight inches long and 10 centimeters wide or wider in places Unbelievable, huge. There was a second, smaller mass that had been hiding behind the first one and he wasn't as concerned about the big one, but they're still, they're sending this off for biopsy. He's more concerned about the little one, but he said we got it all. We got it all. It's gone and we're sending it for biopsy and like none, there's no other growths in bunsen.

Speaker 1:

Based on ultrasound. They ultrasound this whole abdomen. There could be a tiny one growing, who knows, but for right now we're. It was very it was really good news, um, and then he talked about, like, where the big growth had hooked itself to bunsen's blood supply. And do you want to talk about that? Because that was crazy, chris you.

Speaker 2:

You're a better person to talk to about it, because I'm getting it second hand from you okay and you might see that the cage is moving up and down because Bernoulli is trying to get in here. Yeah, he really wants to see Bunsen it's probably best if you talk about it okay.

Speaker 1:

So the growth had a blood supply from Bunsen, two blood supplies. One was connected to his liver. It had made its own pathway to the blood supply from Bunsen's liver. And then the other Sorry, I'm laughing because Bernoulli's shaking the crate, not because of this situation.

Speaker 2:

Can you hear it scraping?

Speaker 1:

It's fine. And then the other place that it hooked itself to is Bunsen's aorta. So that was a dicey cut. Dr Keyes said that was the one they were worried about the most was snipping it off of his aorta and then suturing it closed. But he said, yeah, it went great. So the surgery was two hours long and he said like dr keys went through all of the reasons why it was like miraculous and the thing was huge and he a couple cool things was like near the end, when they took out the big growth, there was like a crowd of all the vets on duty and all the vet techs were like crowding around to look at it because it was so extraordinary. And then that crowd was watching him like do the final things and they all cheered when the last stitch was sewn. So yeah and yeah, so they're sending bits of it off to be biopsied and then the big growth is being sent to the university of calgary to be studied and shown to vet students. And they asked my permission if that was okay and I was like, yeah, we're going to take it home and keep it on the shelf or something weird like that, and we have pictures of it.

Speaker 1:

I posted pictures on the Paw Pack. I don't know if I feel comfortable posting the pictures to the general public. Maybe I'll put it in the newsletter, but it's pretty grisly and I apologize for the pop hack people if you were like grossed out by seeing it, but it's enormous, like it's the size of, like almost a basketball, and yeah. Anyways, what he said was where it was situated, in Bunsen. Maybe if you were looking really carefully it might've looked like Bunsen had gained a little bit of weight and I had mentioned that to Chris, that Bunsen was looking a little chunky in his stomach. But when I felt his ribs his, his ribs were you could feel them like Bunsen's, not overweight, we keep them really fit. And he said, because of the way Burner's bodies are, they're very barrel chested, especially the males. It had pushed itself into the middle and up into where his lungs are and was squishing everything. So it just kept growing and just kept growing and just kept growing.

Speaker 2:

So that's the downside of having a big barrel chest, because then there's room for things to grow in there A massive thing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he was stable overnight. We went and saw him. We saw him last night. Chris, yeah, we went and saw him last night and he really wanted to come home with us but they needed to keep him there. They monitored his red blood cells all night and he did great and you can see him if you're watching video. He's standing up next to chris so like he he's. He looks like him himself, I'm not gonna lie like we're just so happy so he's getting a little antsy. I don't know if chris is gonna be able to stick around for much longer.

Speaker 1:

Just a couple things and then maybe I'll take a few questions, and so many people are commenting on both instagram and facebook. Thank you so much, and we'll get to a couple of questions for sure. I want to thank everybody. I'll try to do this without getting emotional. I want to thank everybody so much for the super kind words, the love and the prayers from whatever religion that you hold in your heart. It was unbelievable. It was overwhelming to see all of that, the love and support come in. Thank you so very much. I did make a post Like a lot of people were asking If we have a GoFundMe If we need help with this and we don't, so we are blessed to be able to.

Speaker 1:

We don't need help financially, so don't worry about us If you would like to donate to a charity near you that would help out folks that don't have the money for their own pets. I didn't mention like you could listen to our podcast. I would love that. That's a great way you could support us. You could listen to our podcast. It's free, so there's something you can do. If you have never listened to the science podcast, there's a plug for it right there. So, thank you, thank you. Science podcast there's a plug for it right there. So thank you, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for all the kind words. We so appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so we'll take a couple questions from twitter spaces and I'll read a couple questions and then we'll just wrap it up, because this isn't. We didn't want this to be too long. Chris might need my help with bunsen up there. If you're watching live, you can see a shave, okay, so I'll bring paula up. Jamie, no, sorry, not belinda. I'm so sorry we don't. I don't recognize your account. You might be an amazing person, but not today we'll go paula and then jamie, and then I'll read some comments and questions that people had on the lives. Go ahead, paula.

Speaker 4:

Hi, hi everybody. How's everybody doing? I can't say that I'm going to be emotional, because I probably will be, but as speaking for this whole Twitter X, everybody on the Internet in the world thank God Bunsen made it through and welcome home, buddy, because we were all pulling for you and it was just an amazing thing to go this whole journey with you, because every emotion that you have said in this story I was feeling too. I was nervous, I was scared, I kept thinking that I was going to hear anything any minute and I just kept praying and I was like Chris, it was like that option where I thought to myself. I had this feeling I'm not kidding you that it was going to be OK, that it wasn't for time for Bunsen to go. I just really felt that strongly and I can't believe St Rocco or Rocco, that guy rules. I never heard of him before and I'm Catholic and I'm like, oh my God, that's like perfect day to have the surgery, because every dog in heaven is going to be looking down on you, plus your mom. I think your mom helped too, jason, I'm sorry, but I'm going to say that and I just feel that it was just amazing.

Speaker 4:

So I just like I said, when I heard the news, I just burst out in tears and I couldn't sleep that night either, and you can hear it in my voice. I am just so happy for you guys and he is such a lovely dog and I was telling people I can't go anywhere. I'm waiting for news on Bunsen and they're like who's Bunsen? And I'm like I'm trying to explain it. But the love that we have is just amazing and I don't want to keep too long, but I just want to say that Dr Keyes is an amazing man and please hug him and kiss him for me too. I just didn't know if he knew how fast these growths can come. Did he have a time frame that he might know? Like, do these things?

Speaker 1:

grow wicked fast, or he's been pretty cautious with really making any kind of like assertion until the biopsy comes back. It's his and the thing that he's pretty certain of. It's taken a while right he can't give me a time frame, but it's been. It's been like this for a while and bunsen was fine until he wasn't, and that's why it suddenly became an emergency.

Speaker 4:

Okay, and did you also know if he? I'm just asking cause I I'm on Paw Pack and if anybody wants to come on, we'd love more. Come on. It's great place to be. Please join us because it's just so much fun and I think in the community when we saw that picture of that mass, it was fun and I think in the community when we saw that picture of that mass, it was. It was astonishing and I'm glad you posted it. That's my opinion because I wanted to know answers to and it validated everything that he was going through. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting that growth picture. It was pretty disgusting, it really was. I was showing my husband like look at this thing. I'm like holy cow. Is there any interstate system that your vet has that he could share notes or some of that diagnosis with other vets around the world so they could get input? Do you know?

Speaker 1:

He is pretty, he's pretty certain that this may be in a journal.

Speaker 4:

Oh, cool. Okay, Because I'm going to see my vet next week and I'm talking about him too, so I'm going to show him some of these pictures and see what he says. But because I think that's such a learning curve for any vet to see this, because leave it to Bunsen. As you said, he's a unique dog and, hey, he's our superhero man and he, sure you know, is giving science a new thing to look at.

Speaker 4:

So, you know I am just. We were all weighted with bated breath and I'm so glad that everything turned out great. But, like I said, I have little intuition sometimes that I kept hearing things saying he's gonna be fine. So thanks for the faith and I love you guys. You know that more than anything else. And give big hugs to bunsen and bernoulli and happy birthday, jason, on tuesday thank you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you so much, paula uh love you guys love you back. Jennifer commented on watching us live bunsen. There are easier ways to get published. Okay, we'll go to Jamie and then I'll answer some questions from the lives, cause Instagram and Twitter and Facebook have questions. Go ahead, jamie.

Speaker 3:

So relieved, so relieved for everybody. Bunsen, it's a good thing, you're a big, strong boy.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

When I woke up yesterday morning so time zones being what they are I woke up yesterday morning and your good news was there and I was like, oh, thank goodness, thank goodness for that. But yes, I was telling random people all about Bunsen over the last two days because everybody needed to know that Bunsen wasn't well and that he was getting better. But then, of course, it all coincided with Ella getting swallowing a safety pin.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I saw that. I saw that from the golden ratio. They thought it was a battery, right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's it, but no, the most important question is was it shaped like a moose leg?

Speaker 1:

No, it pretty much looked like a basketball. I know.

Speaker 2:

Like a dodgeball.

Speaker 1:

Like a dodgeball, so not a moose leg that he swallowed.

Speaker 3:

Swallowed, no we thought it could have been a bone like the. Yeah, oh well, we've. We've had that too. Yes, yeah, but thank goodness and rest up, bunsen and banali be gentle I want to give you.

Speaker 1:

Go ahead, chris I told.

Speaker 2:

I said there's easier ways to lose 10 pounds.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah that the growth was just about 10 pounds. That's unbelievable. There's a real you bet. Thanks, jamie. I'll take a couple of questions from live and then we're going to wrap it up because, like Chris and I are both exhausted. So, pete, there was a question about the paw pack. I'll post right after this about how you can join, just for full transparency. The paw pack is like our patreon community, so it is a paid community. You are under no obligation to join the paw pack if you don't want to, but I'll post some information about it to all of our socials after. There's a good question and, chris, you'll like this question from uh melon dark. Could this have anything to do with the muscle wasting on his face?

Speaker 2:

because, chris, I asked every single person. I'm like, hey, yeah, uh, do you think maybe this mass had been pushing on a nerve and the nerve goes bloop right and was irritating? And they're all like well, we can't say one. One said likely not, but I think it's going to be interesting to see if his face grows back if his face grows back, he's.

Speaker 1:

It's not like he was harvey dented chris he's kind of harvey dented yeah, he's got a bit of a dent, but no, there's, he's not suffering from it, so that's good. The vets obviously said they don't believe there's any connection, and they said that every time you asked.

Speaker 2:

So I know, I just thought, maybe you know, third time's the charm.

Speaker 1:

That's right, we can ask Dr Keys, though I think you have not asked Dr.

Speaker 2:

Keys, that question I have not asked Dr keys that question.

Speaker 1:

I have not asked dr keys that question. No, I'm just trying to go through. There's so many comments, I'm sorry everybody. There's thousands. I know there's thousands and thousands of people watching live. I can't, I'm sorry everybody. I can only get to a few. Uh-oh, bernoulli's in trouble. I'll check through the chat. Maybe somebody put a chat on twitter. Oh, there's 50. Some comments there. We're just going to. I can't see any comments.

Speaker 1:

Oh, so there's some people were asking do the, do they, do we know how or why this happened? And that's a really good question. So I'm seeing that now, as I scroll through the different feeds, there's like a similar question people had like why did this happen? Where did it come from? And to answer that we won't know until the biopsy comes back. So that's a really we want to know too. We want to know, like how long the big one has been growing, or is that little one dangerous, or was the little one like part of the big one that just broke off and made its own thing? I muted your mic just for a second because somebody's saying Marianne McNally says when is Bernoulli not in trouble? And the answer is when he's sleeping. That's when Bernoulli's not in trouble. He is a little troublemaker, that little guy. It was awesome having Bernoulli, though I have to admit, chris, he's so silly and goofy during that time he doesn't know that Bunsen was having trouble. He's just still his normal self and uh do you want to talk?

Speaker 2:

do you want to talk about how Beaker reacted to coming home?

Speaker 1:

oh, I didn't see it. You'll have to talk about. I was not there. I was getting. I was taking Bernoulli to pet play today. Go ahead, oh, last story, and then we'll wrap it up beaker has not smiled for days no she has not cracked a smile at all.

Speaker 2:

She obviously could smell bunsen when we came home because like we were hugging him and everything. So she probably was like where's bunsen? I can smell him, I can't see him. We got bunsen home, ginger's in her catio. So ginger actually hasn't seen bunsen yet. We'll see how that goes. I'll be quick, but the minute beaker saw bunsen her tail was wagging and she was smiling. She had her megawatt golden retriever smile and she was like standing right by bunsen, she was smelling him. Bernoulli, of course, was very interested in the shaved part, yeah, but beaker was like also interested in smelling him and she smelled his wounds and but we were trying to keep them apart because I don't want him to get stressed out.

Speaker 1:

But she was like so happy she was and I came in after that and she was like looking at bunsen smiling and then she looked at me smiling and then looked at Bunsen and then she's like he's back. Yeah, that was pretty cute. It definitely affected her. With Bunsen being gone. She was very oh, bernoulli's on camera there, he might eat the, he might eat the camera. She Beaker was very tired and like cuddly and I don't want to say sad, but not herself. And now she's back to being smiley and putting Bernoulli in his place when he gets to be a bit too much, which is all the time he's a bit too much.

Speaker 1:

Okay, we'll wrap things up. I think, chris, we went. We went a bit over what I was expecting, yeah, okay. So so, like I said, some people have been asking about the paw pack. I'll post information on twitter. I'll post information in instagram stories. So if you're listening on instagram, I'll post on facebook as well, and that's not something you have to even worry about. If you care, you can click on the link and check it out. If not, doesn't matter. And and then thank you one more time for everybody's well wishes and comments and everything like that. With luck, bunsen will heal up in a couple weeks and we're crossing our fingers that the biopsy comes back and it's like a cyst, some a benign weirdo thing. But yeah, and Paula, you're right, if I see Dr Keys again that man is getting, I will pick that man up above my head. I'm pretty sure I could do it.

Speaker 4:

You better because you got a lot of people around me. You better do it. I want to see pictures of someone showing you picking them up and you give them a big hug.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to give him a great big beer, hug.

Speaker 4:

I don't care if you get a bone up and give it to him. I love it. Thank you guys, too, from the bottom of my heart, for coming on tonight, because I know it's been a stressful week for you guys. So thank you. Thank you for keeping us all in the story of what happened. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

And the story had a good ending. And to anybody whose pet has not had a good ending in the last week, chris and I are we're thinking of you because we had a good ending and that doesn't always happen for pets and we're very cognizant of that. Invite the doc to a pet chat. Yeah, I'll talk to Dr Keys if he wants to come talk. He's a cool guy. All right, we'll wrap things up and we'll shut down. Do you want to do the wrap up music or just quit it, chris? Do you care?

Speaker 2:

Let's do the wrap up music.

Speaker 1:

Okay, yeah, what is it Procedure to do it? Thank you everybody for coming to this shorter pet chat. Go ahead, chris, you can give your closing remarks.

Speaker 2:

Again, thank you everybody for coming. Go ahead, Chris, you can give your closing remarks. Again, thank you everybody for coming. We really appreciate you. I cannot, because Bernoulli is being bad Bernoulli.

Speaker 1:

I wonder what he's doing up there. Okay, I'll wrap it up too so I can Thanks. I'll wrap up too so I can go help Chris. Thank you everybody for coming to Pet Chat. Pet Chat runs every Saturday, so we'll try to do a normal show next week. We have to play things by ear. Obviously. It might just be a shorter Pet Chat, like today.

Speaker 1:

Three things that we always talk about at the end. One is if you're looking for pet stuff, check out BarkAndBeyondSupplycom. You could use the code Bunsen and save yourself a little bit of money. So that's BarkAndBeyondSupplycom, and we always have things. If you'd like to support us, there's the Paw Pack. You can check out our store. The pre-sale for our calendar is going strong. Thank you everybody who supported us over the last couple days with purchases from our store. And if you want to support us at no cost to yourself, just time, listen to the science podcast. The science podcast can be found everywhere. Podcasts can be played. All right, I'm going to wrap things up to go help out Bernoulli. He's probably eating a box or something like that. So we'll see you guys next week, take care.