12/10/2026
🐾❤️ Meet Bear – a very special patient with a big story to tell! ❤️🐾
It’s been an incredibly busy couple of weeks for the team at Crossways, with an unusually high number of spaniels eating things they really shouldn’t! 😅
One very special patient who has kept us on our toes is Bear. ❤️
Bear is a retired Police Search Dog who has had a wonderfully exciting career. He’s also one of our absolute favourite patients and stole our hearts a long time ago. Why? Because Bear much prefers to lie upside down, with his tail wagging furiously, rather than standing on all four paws! 🥰
So, when his owner brought him in looking unusually quiet and sad, we knew something wasn’t right.
Bear was admitted for further investigations, and we were concerned that he might have a foreign body lodged in his intestines. What we hadn’t expected to discover was that he also had an enlarged heart.
Bear was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a serious and progressive condition affecting the heart muscle. It causes the heart chambers to enlarge and the muscle to become weak, making it harder for the heart to pump blood effectively. This meant that the anaesthetic and surgery would carry significantly greater risks.
Thankfully, Bear couldn’t have been in better hands. Our incredible nursing team includes nurses with additional qualifications in advanced anaesthesia, giving us the expertise needed to carefully manage his condition. Before proceeding, the whole team came together for a detailed discussion about his surgery, the potential complications and how best to keep him safe throughout.
Then it was time to get to work.
Bear needed a procedure called an end-to-end intestinal anastomosis, which involved removing a damaged section of his intestine and reconnecting the healthy ends. He had swallowed several pieces of plastic, which had become tangled with bedding he’d also eaten, forming a long, spiky foreign body. As it travelled through his intestines, it caused significant damage.
We also placed a feeding tube to help support his recovery, and initially, Bear did really well. ❤️
A few days later, he took a little turn, causing us all some concern. Fortunately, he just needed some additional pain relief and, after a rather impressive 💩, he was feeling considerably more comfortable! 😂 We’ll spare you the finer details, but let’s just say we were very happy to see things moving in the right direction!
As a retired Police Dog, Bear’s treatment is being supported by the wonderful charity Thin Blue Paw Foundation . ❤️🐾 They are a national charity dedicated to supporting, rehabilitating, protecting and celebrating serving and retired police dogs, helping to ensure these incredible animals receive the care they deserve after a lifetime of service.
We’d highly recommend taking a look at their website and supporting their work if you can. These amazing dogs give so much, and it’s lovely to see them being cared for in return.
It’s been an emotional few weeks for everyone involved, but moments like these remind us exactly why we do what we do. Seeing Bear feeling brighter, recovering well and already trying to steal the cats’ food again is the best reward we could ask for! 😅🥰
A huge well done to our wonderful team, and a special thank you to Bear’s owner and The Thin Blue Paw for helping us give this very special boy the care he needed.
Keep wagging that tail, Bear – we’re all rooting for you! ❤️🐾
