Faith: You Gotta Have Faith!

Faith, came to us as a stray JUST after Iris' diagnosis and veterinary visit. Faith began having grande mal seizures one morning and even after her local veterinary visit, they just wouldn't stop! Off to NIVES in Fort Wayne, IN this time with Faith. After staying there and racking up a bill over $1,000, her seizures still continued. The decision was made to drive Faith down to VAC in Fishers, IN.

VAC has an MRI as well as two fantastic neurologists on staff. Faith's MRI revealed a small bright spot, but an area which commonly is inflamed after cluster seizures. Blood tests were drawn to see if there was a parasitic reason for her seizures. Her blood tests came back normal.  The neurologists decided to place Faith under a heavy dose of midazolam (similar to Valium) to quiet her brain. After 3 days, her seizures slowed and stopped.

Faith returned to her foster home today with phenobarbital and Keppra on board to help her through her next stage of recovery. She does not have full use of her muscles yet and falls frequently. Dr. Cross stated that this may take a few weeks (more than 3) to come under control.

The bill at VAC: $3,000

Iris and her escapades

Iris is a 15 week old American Pitbull puppy. She came to use with very little use of her rear legs and infested with the parasite coccidia. We took her to Seven Oaks Veterinary Clinic in Plymouth, IN where they took 9 x-rays and placed her on medications to decrease inflammation and the intestinal parasite problem.
The x-rays revealed that her cervical vertebrae are compressed as well as a few of her lumbar vertebrae. Since that appeared to be the cause of her semi-paralysis, we made an appointment at NIVES in Fort Wayne, IN to see if she would be a surgical candidate.
Once the specialty doctor on duty saw her x-rays, he did not feel she was a candidate for surgery and that she may have neospora or toxoplasmosis. Both tests were negative.
So, in addition to the visit to NIVES, we authorized a blood draw for the aforementioned parasites. Her bill was a hefty $663. With donations from around the states we were able to pay the bill off quickly.

We are taking Iris back to Seven Oaks to possibly treat her for Neospora anyway since she does have such a high level of coccidia in her system.

Unbeknownst to us, another dog was about to come in with even more difficulties!