Jerry Brown’s dog Sutter is critically ill

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown’s dog Sutter has fallen critically ill and is facing a bleak prognosis.

Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said Tuesday that Sutter was rushed to an animal hospital last week and underwent emergency surgery. Veterinarians removed several masses suspected to be cancer from his intestines, lymph nodes and liver.

Westrup says the Browns are awaiting biopsy results but “the prognosis is likely to be very poor.”

Sutter, a 13-year-old Pembroke Welsh corgi, was owned by Brown’s sister, Kathleen Brown, until she moved out of state in 2010.

The dog often accompanies Brown to the Capitol and promotes the governor’s policies to nearly 10,000 Twitter followers as @SutterBrown. In May of last year, the governor got a second dog — Colusa, now 18 months old, and a mix of corgi and border collie — who is billed as deputy first dog.

Of Sutter, Westrup said, “The first dog is a fighter and we’re all pulling for him.”