This campaign is to save the life of Shadow. He is my best friend and proper care could save his life. My wife and I can't afford this care. I love Shadow so much, please help.
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Shadow is doing really well. He is full of energy and acting pretty much like his old self. He is growing stronger every day, is playing with toys, starting to punk his sister Hope and cause general shenanigans. It is actually quite amazing how fast he has recovered.
His normal vet Dr. Shearer ran a blood test and said his kidney levels are really good. One level seemed a bit high but she wasn't concerned at all due to the fact she thinks there is minor kidney damage from everything he went through. This kidney damage isn't anything to worry about though as it is very minor and not life altering. His platelet count came back very high but Dr. Shearer is also not worried about it. She said this is normal due to what he went through and it either means he is bleeding severely, swelling, was swelling, or his body was preparing for bleeding that never happened. We know he did suffer from some swelling and Dr. Shearer believes the cause is either due to the swelling or from preparing for bleeding that never happened.
His only issue is still the lack of eating. Some days he eats like a little piggy and some days he doesn't want to eat at all. He doesn't show interest in foods he used to love and this is the big problem. We work on getting him interested in other foods so hopefully in time we will find the perfect food for him. Sadly the "go to" foods for dogs do not work. Chicken and rice has never worked for him so we have to improvise.
Once again thank you for all the love and support.
Love Shadow, Hope, Andrew and Tracy.
Shadow is my 16 year old Patterdale Terrier. He is my best friend and I can't imagine a life without him. He is the most friendly and loveable dog I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and I love him with all my heart. We have been through a lot together. He was with me when I moved from CA to WA. He helped me get through college and he has helped me deal with being laid off and struggling to find a job.
Shadow was recently diagnosed with pneumonia. Three days ago he was running around and having a great time. He was a healthy and happy little guy without a care in the world. He woke me up and I could tell something was wrong. I noticed he was having frequent urination, cramps and a high fever. I took him to his vet and they diagnosed him with possible bronchitis but were not very sure what his problem was. They knew he had an infection but they were not sure where it was coming from. They gave him IV antibiotics and they just didn't seem to get the job done. Shadow seemed to be getting worse.
Eventually I had to move Shadow to an emergency animal hospital for the weekend. At this point he had a 104 F fever and was very lethargic. They put him on stronger IV antibiotics yet nothing seemed to be working. He got significantly worse that night and the vet wasn't sure why he wasn't responding. Shadow refused to eat or drink and was not doing very well. My wife and I were not going to give up on our little hero and put as much money as we had into his treatment.
The next day he seemed to be doing a bit better but then he had a small seizure. Our vet found that he had very low blood sugar levels, so low that they didn't register on the meter. She gave him sugar for the entire day due to the fact his sugar levels kept dropping. She also put him on oxygen as his O2 levels were a bit low (but not dangerous).
At this point the vet said she believes Shadow was septic (he had an infection in his blood) and the antibiotics had to kick in soon or things would get worse. Shadow still didn't want to eat yet he did lick some wet food once and I was able to get him to drink a bit.
Shadow slept through the night and I received a phone call the next day saying he did seem to appear a bit better. He no longer needed constant sugar as his sugar levels stabilized, though they were on the lower end of the safe range. This lead the vet to believe the antibiotics were starting to do their job and fight off the bacteria which were eating the sugar in his bloodstream. Shadow also no longer needed oxygen as his O2 levels were up to 96% from the 86% he was the previous day. Shadow also started drinking water, he actually wanted water when I offered it to him. He licked wet food off of my fingers about 7-10 times before he lost interest. This is a great start and hopefully tomorrow he will want more!
All three veterinarians who saw him at the emergency animal hospital said they still feel he has a good chance to survive and make it home if he continues treatment. Without treatment they said it is a "dice roll". The problem is treatment is very expensive and could easily cost $3,000 - $5,000 for just a few days. We already have around $3,000 and we only have one income. Luckily the veterinarians said it may only take a few days to a week to get the pneumonia out of his system and get him healthy.
From my own point of view I think he does have a fighting chance. I have known Shadow a very long time. When he doesn't feel good he gets very anti-social and doesn't want to do anything with anybody. Normally he loves to lick people, especially your hand and your nose. The first day I took him to his initial vet he licked my nose once and that was it. When he became progressively worse he wouldn't lick my hand or nose at all. This broke my heart. Tonight when I saw him he did seem a bit perkier. I kissed his nose and he kissed my nose back! I don't know if this means anything but I want to believe!
I understand Shadow is an older dog but he still has a lot of life left. When he does pass on I want him to go on his own terms on the bed in his sleep. Not sick due to possibly a bordetella vaccine he received a few days ago. He deserves so much better for all of the unconditional love he has given to us over the years.
My wife and I don't have any children. Shadow is like our son and I can't imagine a world without him. If you could find it in your heart to help us we would be more grateful than you could ever understand. I would give each and every one of you a personal hug if I could. Shadow would give you a personal lick on the nose if he could! Right now I'm an emotional wreck and I'm typically someone who is strong 100% of the time. I never show emotions yet right now I feel lost and completely broken. I love my little Shadowman (we call him Stinkers).
Shadow is doing really well. He is full of energy and acting pretty much like his old self. He is growing stronger every day, is playing with toys, starting to punk his sister Hope and cause general shenanigans. It is actually quite amazing how fast he has recovered.
His normal vet Dr. Shearer ran a blood test and said his kidney levels are really good. One level seemed a bit high but she wasn't concerned at all due to the fact she thinks there is minor kidney damage from everything he went through. This kidney damage isn't anything to worry about though as it is very minor and not life altering. His platelet count came back very high but Dr. Shearer is also not worried about it. She said this is normal due to what he went through and it either means he is bleeding severely, swelling, was swelling, or his body was preparing for bleeding that never happened. We know he did suffer from some swelling and Dr. Shearer believes the cause is either due to the swelling or from preparing for bleeding that never happened.
His only issue is still the lack of eating. Some days he eats like a little piggy and some days he doesn't want to eat at all. He doesn't show interest in foods he used to love and this is the big problem. We work on getting him interested in other foods so hopefully in time we will find the perfect food for him. Sadly the "go to" foods for dogs do not work. Chicken and rice has never worked for him so we have to improvise.
Once again thank you for all the love and support.
Love Shadow, Hope, Andrew and Tracy.
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Shadow came home yesterday!!! He isn't out of the woods yet but he did beat the pneumonia. He is still a bit weak and somewhat wobbly due to his rear left leg being weak. This is probably due to his previous spinal injury that is treatable after everything else calms down. Dr. Shearer (his primary care vet) is right now monitoring his kidney levels.
Dr. Shearer was concerned his kidneys may be failing but this may not be the case anymore. He still has another blood test to triple check his kidney functions but the first test showed a creatinine level of 1.6 which was elevated above normal. This could be a precursor to kidney failure or many other things like stress, overworked kidneys due to infection, mediation etc... After about 20 hours or so of heavy IV fluid treatment his creatinine levels dropped to 1.3 (1.4 is normal). All of the vets were prepared for his levels to continue to go up past 1.6. You could say they were very happily surprised. I admit he is still peeing a bit weird, as in a bit more often but that seems to be balancing out back to normal. It may sound gross (vet asked me to check) but the urine doesn't smell unusual so there is no signs of infection or filtering problems.
He is on a ton of medication which may or may not be upsetting his stomach and / or making him taste things funny. This is the big hurdle because he still doesn't seem to want to eat normal things. His normal food is now disgusting to him, both wet and dry. We switched to a Pedigree Healthy Kidney Formula and he seems to munch on that more but only if I hand feed it to him. Now chicken strips.. he nearly bit my fingers off trying to eat those. Yes I took the breading off but I wasn't sure how much he should have due to the grease. I'm slowly getting him to eat more and more every day so that is a good sign. He is drinking normally so that is good, though every time he takes his first drink he makes this really gross face like the water tastes bad. It is fresh water so I'm not sure what the deal is. Perhaps something makes his mouth taste bad or changed the way things taste and this is also related to his eating issue. I informed Dr. Shearer of this.
So there are still many vet appointments in the future but at least he is at home and no longer depressed. He is actually quite happy and full of piss and vinegar. He charged the gate on the stairs and tried to scare away the UPS man today. What a brave little guy.
Attached is a picture of what Shadow and Hope did when he came home. Hope really missed him and doesn't even lightly growl or groan anymore when he kicks her out of her spot. She is just happy he is home with her.
Lots of love and thanks,
-Andrew, Tracy, Shadow and Hope
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We transferred Shadow to his primary vet today. This is because the emergency vet doesn't function during the day and Shadow still needs care. His kidney values were up and it indicates possible kidney failure. This isn't set in stone but the vet told me she wanted to make sure I knew all possibilities. They said it could mean many things and being on heavy IV treatment could bring the levels down. Also Shadow could bring the levels down by himself. But it also meant in 24-48 hours if they went up he pretty much was losing the fight.
He was looking a lot better and much more alert. He actually heard our voices when Tracy and I went to pick him up. He started looking for us which he did not do before. He also is walking better but still is a bit wobbly. He is drinking more which could be a sign of kidney weakness or simply a sign of not drinking much in five days. Another good sign is he started eating solid food today. He ate almost a full slice of cheddar cheese. This was the first solid food he ate on his own in 5-6 days.
I have learned you need to have faith. You can't lose hope in these situations. He is a good little guy and so much more alert than before. As you can see from the picture he is now in a licking mood which he normally likes to do. When he doesn't feel good he refuses to lick. I think my hands were nearly dripping after he got done licking them.
24-48 hours will be the golden hours for my Shadowman, aka Mr. Stinks.
Lots of love to everybody and thank you for the support, social media shares and generosity!
-Andrew, Tracy, Shadow and Hope
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Aug 07
Aug 05