Baxter Mustain 9/08 Pet of the Month

Baxter Mustain - September 2008 Pet of the Month

Baxter is a beautiful 4 year old AKC registered Golden Retriever.

Monte and Lisa Mustain purchased this little bundle of joy for their wedding present to one another in 2004. It was apparent that the match was made in heaven as the little puppy's birthday was the same as Lisa's. Baxter grew and grew, chewed and chewed, grew some more and at his heaviest weight was 102 pounds.

December of last year Baxter went to check out the new neighbors, the four new horses across the street. On his way home Baxter was hit by a Ford 350 (that's the big one) pickup truck pulling a 16' trailer loaded with hay. Monte and Lisa rushed Baxter to Dr. Winter. Baxter had sustained a collapsed lung, deep tissue bruising, cuts and scrapes and within one month Baxter was healing rather well.

Over the next 8 months Baxter seemed to be getting better. He ran, jumped, constantly begging you to pitch his beloved KONG... but he was loosing weight, a lot of weight. Baxter was scheduled for another appointment with Dr. Winter; he had lost 25 lbs. It was discovered that during the accident he had received a small tear in his diaphragm which increased over the months, creating a suction that had pulled his innards (stomach, liver, spleen, intestines) into his chest cavity.

Baxter was scheduled for surgery at Winter Animal Hospital to relocate his insides and repair the hole in his diaphragm; the surgery was precarious to say the least. On August 28, 2008, Dr. Greg Winter and Dr. Tera Ward Winters performed surgery on Baxter. He came home the same day with 28 staples on his underside... the zipper!! T he surgery was a huge success! Within three weeks, Baxter regained 12 lbs. and has seemingly made a full recovery.

Monte and Lisa are grateful to Winter Animal Hospital for all their diligent efforts in saving their one-of-a-kind Bad Boy Baxter.

Thanks too to Monte and Lisa for sharing their wonderful story and pictures of Baxter. He truly is a beautiful dog! ~Webmaster

Check out Recent Pets of the Month and Previous Pets of the Month.

Page updated: 11/20/2009