Dante was feeling sick, but he couldn’t tell anyone. Dante is a dog. But the Cypress Great Pyrenees, who belongs to Greg and Kelly Harris had someone else who was looking out for his best interest.
Dante was feeling sick, but he couldn’t tell anyone. Dante is a dog. But the Cypress Great Pyrenees, who belongs to Greg and Kelly Harris had someone else who was looking out for his best interest.
Nalani Dutro, a 10-year-old Cypress resident and student at Los Alamitos Elementary School already has dreams of becoming a veterinarian. She loves animals and was familiar with Dante and his brother Michajeh.
But Michajeh has passed recently, so Dutro, who lives in the same neighborhood as the Harris family, began checking in on Dante a little more frequently. Recently she noticed something wrong with Dante. Kelly Harris said Nalani was quick to inform them of her suspicions.
“She said, ‘he has a bad fever, you need to get him to a vet,’” Harris said.
In addition to the fever, after inspecting the back yard, they found drops of blood on the ground. Dante was taken to his vet, Dr. Robert Woods in Garden Grove, who started him on antibiotics. But his condition was becoming dire and he was transferred to Southern California Veterinary Specialty Hospital in Irvine.
Harris was told Dante was suffering from septic hepatitis, pancreatitis and GI inflammation infection. His fever had spiked to 105.7 and his liver was enlarged. They weren’t sure what bacteria had caused the infection and there was little time to test, so they simply pumped him with a variety of antibiotics.
Eventually, Dante began to improve and he returned home a week ago and was still on medication and will be watched closely for the next few weeks and have more blood tests done at that time.
Harris said the doctors expect him to make a full recovery. She said he seemed fine, other than a little sluggish. They thought he might be grieving the loss of his brother Michajeh, who was the alpha of the two dogs. But suddenly he crashed.
“They said it can happen that way,” Harris said. “Thank God for this little girl who loves to make sure animals are okay.”
As for Nalani, she speaks as though she is well beyond her 10 years of age. She is in the fourth grade and likes to sew, but says that animals have always been the love of her life. “The Dog Whisperer” is her favorite television program.
“I’ve always liked animals, ever since I was a baby, there’s never been a time I didn’t like animals,” Nalani said.
She currently has a Golden Retriever named Penny. While she loves all animals, she said dogs are her favorite because they love to play with people. As for her assessment of Dante, she said she looked at his eyes and felt his nose, the usual dog indicators, but noticed something less well known.
She said a dog’s ears can often indicate their body temperature, particularly the tips of the ears.
“Dante’s ears were very, very hot,” she said.
Nalani continues to stop by to check on Dante and bring him treats, keeping tabs on the patient. She doesn’t do it because he was sick, or out of concern. It’s just what she loves to do.
“He’s getting better,” Nalani said.