California's "first dog" Sutter. | AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file California's 'first dog' falls critically ill

California Gov. Jerry Brown’s dog Sutter, a fixture at the state capitol who helped temper Brown’s image and advance his political causes, has fallen critically ill, with a spokesman describing his prognosis as “likely to be very poor.”

The Pembroke Welsh corgi, referred to by the Brown administration as California’s “first dog,” underwent emergency surgery after becoming sick on Friday and remained at a Sacramento-area animal hospital on Tuesday, Brown spokesman Evan Westrup said.


Masses suspected to be cancerous were found in the dog's intestines, lymph nodes and liver, and veterinarians were unable to remove them all, Westrup said in an email.

“While we do not have the results from the biopsies yet, the prognosis is likely to be very poor,” he said.

Sutter turned 13 last month.

Brown adopted Sutter from his sister Kathleen Brown when Kathleen, a former state treasurer, moved out of state following Jerry Brown’s 2010 election. The dog stayed with Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, after Kathleen Brown eventually returned.

For the past several years, the Democratic governor, now 78, has promoted Sutter on social media, featured his image on budget-related trading cards and employed the dog in get-out-the-vote efforts.

Kathleen Brown told the Chicago Tribune in 2012 that Sutter “humanizes my brother, makes him more approachable.”

Brown, who once referred warmly to Sutter as “half a rat,” adopted the dog after his black Labrador, Dharma, died in 2010. Sutter went on to become a mainstay in Sacramento, where the Browns are frequently seen walking the dog and where visitors pose for photographs with him.

Brown last year acquired a new dog, Colusa “Lucy” Brown, the offspring of a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and a Border Collie-Pembroke Welsh corgi mix.

Westrup said Brown and the first lady were both at the animal hospital with Sutter on Friday, and that the focus of Sutter’s treatment is “on getting him well enough to come home, so he can spend time with his family, including Colusa, whose spirits have been very low with her brother gone.”

Westrup said that when Anne Gust Brown saw Sutter on Monday and took him for a short walk, he led her directly to the car.

"It’s clear he’s eager to get home," Westrup said.