The hearts of those at the Columbia Police Department are heavy today after losing a special member of their family Thursday morning.
K-9 Officer Urac lost his long fought battle with a rare genetic disorder yesterday with his handler Sgt. Scott Hedrick at his side. John Gordon, the Associate Chief of the Operations Division of the Columbia Police Department, says Urac had been sick for months.
He was suffering from a very rare, untreatable genetic disorder. Urac stopped eating because his body was no longer able to absorb nutrients from food and eventually his lower intestines shut down.
“It’s a genetic condition, it’s really rare, there’s no test for it. You can’t pretest the dog for it, it’s just something that after time it’ll happen. Sometimes treatments will work, but most of the time it doesn’t,” said Gordon.
Gordon added the department sought out multiple veterinarians in hopes of experimental medications and even had him on a strict diet plan in hopes of getting his body to absorb the nutrients it needed. The department sought help from Urac’s primary veterinarian as well as the University of Missouri’s internal veterinarian’s clinic and even received attempted help from veterinarians from Texas A&M.