Another sad update on Bailey the Labrador

[Medusa]

I just spoke to my friend and he said that even the vet that I recommended to him said that if Bailey doesn't improve by Monday, he has a difficult decision to make. He crawled inside the cage w/her and talked to her and told her he loves her but she's so out of it that she didn't respond. I don't like to give up and I surely don't like to sell any animal short. But this has gone on for two weeks w/out let up. Bailey's quality of life is very poor. Pray that she responds to treatment but every vet that has looked at her is baffled. And Bailey just keeps getting sicker and sicker.

[Catty1]

Bailey hasn't eaten any of the recalled food, has she?

I thought they found Lyme disease, but I don't know how treatable that is.

I found this info...I hope they got Bailey started early enough...

Treatment:

Doxycycline and ammoxicillin will cure Lyme disease if administered early to dogs and given long enough. Treatment should last a minimum of a month. Aspirin or one of the newer non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be used to control the pain. Humans are treated with the same drugs. If the organism has caused cardiac or neurological disease, ceftriaxone may be administered intravenously. Some patients develop life-long joint pain due to damage already inflicted. Other damage can also be non-reversible.

Outcome Or Prognosis:
When the diagnosis is correct dogs should begin improving within two weeks of starting antibiotic therapy. Relapses are common when the antibiotic is stopped too soon.

[jennielynn1970]

I'm not sure what Ohio has in the area of Veterinary teaching hospitals, like here in the Philadelphia area we have University of Penn Veterinary Hospital. It's one of the best centers for animals that are really sick and other vets are stuck. Is there anything in your area like that??

Poor Bailey... she must be so scared because of the seizures. I wonder if they can do neuro surgery on her. We had a kid at school that had seizures so severely that they did a hemispherectomy, where they removed the one half of his brain. Not kidding. If they wouldn't have done it, he would have died.

I hope something comes through for Bailey. I'll be thinking and praying for her.

[Reachoutrescue]

I hope Bailey responds to treatment and gets well. Our prayers go your way sweet Bailey.

[jennielynn1970]

Are they sure it's Lyme's disease??? It says that neurological disorders from Lyme's are rare.

Maybe the vets haven't looked closely enough at her, and just assume it's Lymes.

This is from a canine epilepsy site, about seizures, saying that they are not all epilepsy related, but have other major causes...

Here's the link as well...
http://www.canine-epilepsy.com/Why.html

A dog may seizure for any number of reasons. Just because a dog has a seizure does not mean that the dog has epilepsy. Just because I have a running nose does not mean that I have a cold. I could have a reaction to someone's perfume, I could have a sinus infection, I could have allergies, I could have ... . There are many tests to determine what exactly I have that is causing my running nose. However, there is no test in the medical industry for the existence of epilepsy (primary, inherited or idiopathic). To determine whether a dog has epilepsy or something else, a veterinarian or neurologist arrives at their diagnosis by a process of elimination. They determine what is not and then, hopefully, come to a logical conclusion as to what it is. The following is a list of conditions which can cause seizures in dogs. Each condition is discussed in the following sections:



* 1. Brain tumor, Head injury
* 2. Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
* 3. Distemper
* 4. Environment - toxins
* 5. Epilepsy
* 6. hyper' and 'hypo' Conditions
Hypoglycemia
Hypocalcemia
Hypoxia or Hypoxemia
Hepatic Encephalopathy or Liver Disease
Renal (kidney) disease
Hyperkalemia
Hyperlipoproteinemia
Gastrointestinal disease ("garbage" poisoning)
Tick Bites
Toxoplamosis (Toxo)
* 7. Lissencephay


The above list is not all-encompassing, but close, these items are the major causes for seizures in dogs.

[jennielynn1970]

http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=433

[Medusa]

Thank you all so much for your help and links. Bailey has been on an antibiotic, although my friend didn't know which one. Normally he's up on all this stuff but this really has him frazzled. He just cries. The thing is, Bailey just won't stop seizuring. Even w/anti seizure medication, she just keeps on having them. The vet that I recommended said that it's possible to seizure w/Lyme disease but that it's rare. A friend of mine lost her pug a few weeks ago to seizures. Turns out this dog had an incurable disease that brings on seizures and the dog was gone w/in 5 days. The name of the disease is too long for me to remember. (It's early Sunday morning and I had another restless night, sorry.) I'm wondering if that's what Bailey has. My friend is tapped out financially and he's borrowed $2000 so far and Bailey hasn't seen any improvement. I can't keep loaning him money; my taxes are due and I'm paying again this year. Ugh! Plus I'm opening another office w/all the expenses that includes. If he can find more money, I really would like Dr. Lee to take a look at Bailey. I'm going to call him tomorrow and see if he'll take payments from my friend. This is probably Bailey's last hope unless she sees some improvement from the antibiotics. I wish I could say more here other than "waa waa waa". I don't mean to make it all about money. But it takes money to buy good vet care.

[Medusa]

My friend is confident that Bailey hasn't eaten any of the tainted food. He feeds his dogs only Diamond dry and, to my knowledge, that isn't on the list. I feared leptospirosis and she was tested for it and they found nothing. It's just so baffling. And sad.

[Catty1]

I hope Dr Lee will make arrangements for your friend. Not knowing is so horrible...even if he knew it was something incurable, at least he would KNOW what is happening.

Poor Bailey, poor dad.

There IS an organization in the US and Canada that does loans for pet care...if you pay it back in the first 3 months, there is no interest charged. I'll see if I can find the link...

Edit - here it is! http://www.carecredit.com/

It does mention surgery...but I think any unexpected pet health crisis might qualify.

2nd edit: more - http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/OH652.html

http://www.mvlrc.org/

http://www.gdlrr.org/

Maybe some of these groups have connections. I think the first two under 2nd Edit can actually do something.

[kb2yjx]

Prayers for hard times like this....

[phesina]

Prayers for beloved Bailey and her loving dad.

Pat and cats

[Reachoutrescue]

You could also try IMOM and if you do a search on veterinary funds or help with vet bills you will find a lot of sites that help owners care for their sick pet. Good luck and please keep us posted on sweet Bailey.

[Medusa]

I just got off the phone w/Mike and he said that since they started Bailey on the new meds, she hasn't had any seizures! So...they feel they've narrowed it down to either encephalitis or a brain tumor. The only thing that will tell for sure is an MRI and he's already stretched financially, so the vet told him that she feels that if Bailey continues to improve on the meds, that it's encephalitis which is curable. A brain tumor isn't. She told Mike that Bailey has a 50-50 chance. All in all, I'd say this is a much better report, wouldn't you?