When Malcolm, a 7-year-old Labradoodle, suddenly became very sick in June, his family had no idea what was wrong — or that he’d been keeping a secret for a long time.
All of the sudden, the normally playful Malcom had become lethargic, stopped eating and
began vomiting. Joel Harper, one of Malcolm’s pet parents and a children’s book author, knew he needed help as quickly as possible.
Harper, who lives in France with his wife, Marielle Enzo, their three children and three pets, rushed Malcolm to their local veterinary clinic, Clinique Vétérinaire du Saint-Quentin. By then, Malcolm had a dangerously high fever.
When the veterinary team performed an X-ray, they spotted something strange in Malcolm’s stomach. At first, no one could tell what the twisting shapes were.
“They couldn't figure it out,” Harper told The Dodo. “They thought it was headphones maybe.”
Harper wondered if Malcolm had swallowed a jump rope. Or part of a fishing rod. But whatever was inside Malcolm, it had to come out. The veterinary team prepared him for surgery.
After the operation, the mystery was finally solved: Malcolm had swallowed hair bands. Not just a few, but somewhere between 75 and 100 of them, by Harper’s estimate.
His family was stunned. No one had ever seen Malcolm chewing on a hair band or found any evidence that he’d swallowed one.
“I picked up the poop in the yard, right?” Harper said. “And I never saw a hair band in one. I never saw him chewing on one. Neither did my wife or kids. But I think he's been eating these things for years.”
Unfortunately, one of the bands had made its way into Malcolm’s intestines, where it shredded and triggered sepsis. Malcolm needed another surgery — and he continued to bravely face one health crisis after another.
Malcolm remained at the vet for three and a half weeks as the veterinary team searched for a solution to help him recover. At times, it wasn’t clear if Malcolm would make it.
“On several occasions, our compassionate vet warned us that Malcolm might not make it and gently invited us to say our goodbyes,” the family wrote on the GoFundMe page they launched to help pay for Malcolm’s medical bills. “Before the third surgery, I asked him to be completely honest about how much Malcolm was suffering.”
“His response gave us the hope we desperately needed,” they wrote. “He told us that in his 30-year career, he had never seen a dog like Malcolm — because through all the pain, the surgeries, and the ICU stay, Malcolm’s tail never stopped wagging.”
The vet refused to give up on Malcolm, and against all odds, the pup pulled through. Malcolm finally got to return home — this time, for good. The family started calling Malcolm their “miracle boy.”
“He just plays like a puppy, running in the backyard, going a little crazy,” Enzo told The Dodo. “It’s so nice to see.”
For Harper, Malcolm’s recovery was never really in doubt.
“In my heart and soul I knew it,” Harper said. “He just had the will to live.”
