Hey everyone. As some of you already know from Facebook & twitter, I had to take O’Malley to the vet today. See, two days ago he threw up clear liquid, probably water. There were no problems yesterday but when I went in to feed him this morning, there was another large puddle of clear liquid. I cleaned it up and since he still acted hungry, I fed him. He only ate half of it and then threw up his partially digested food maybe 20 minutes later. At that point I called the vet and got him an appointment for tomorrow morning, with her saying if he got worse that they’d fit him in today. Well 5 minutes later he threw up again so I called and she told me to bring him in. All this time I was trying to keep Nikki up to speed via IM while she was at work and was crying because, like you, I hate when my kids are sick. O’Malley being a foster makes no difference. He is our kid until he finds his forever home! So off I go to the vet, after asking for some pawcircle and healing thoughts from our friends and followers.

At the Vet

After a lot of questions, Dr. Jill, our amazing vet, decided to run some bloodwork on him. With cats vomiting like this, it’s always very important to check for signs of pancreatitis. This is a very dangerous inflammation of the pancreas that our youngest cat, Satsuki, had after eating some crappy cat food as a treat. She had to stay overnight on fluids and all sorts of medications and it’s very scary. Come to think of it, I should make a Pet Parent Files about it. Anyway, that was our first concern. Vomiting can also dehydrate a cat very quickly so he was given a bubble of subcutaneous fluids to help rehydrate him. O’Malley’s bloodwork came back all normal. Like nothing out of the ordinary which is good. Dr. Jill ran some extra set of tests to check for all the levels that could suggest organ issues. So it looks like his pancreas, liver, kidneys, fluids, all that is good. Then they took him for X-rays to see if he had an obstruction, such as some string or a toy or anything he might have ingested. We were pretty sure this wasn’t it but you can never tell. Even when you think you’re keeping a good eye on cats, they can still be sneaky. They took two X-rays and Dr. Jill didn’t see anything obvious on them.

The Diagnosis

So it doesn’t look like he has pancreatitis and it doesn’t look like he has an obstruction. This is good news. For now his diagnosis is gastritis. So, the lining of his stomach is inflamed. Of course, this doesn’t mean we know the cause. That’s the problem with symptoms – they can mean so many different things. Anyway, we’re assuming something has upset his stomach but not caused pancreatitis. So Dr. Jill gave him 3 shots. One was an anti-nausea injection so that will hopefully make him feel better. The second was an antacid to calm his stomach if anything is going on in there. And the third was an anti-inflammatory injection. I believe it was a steroid injection, just a small dose. This is in case there is some inflammation going on in his pancreas. Just in case it’s still there and not showing up in the bloodwork. That’s how serious you have to take pancreatitis. But other than that, she sent him home with a bland, prescription diet food to give him for a few days to help calm whatever may have been upsetting his stomach. We just have to feed him a little tonight and watch him for vomiting. If he does, we take him back in the morning for, I assume, more tests and more medication. If not, then we keep watching him and hope everything returns to normal.

So, yes. Please keep him in your thoughts! I know he’s felt all the love pouring in for him already! As always we’d like to thank the wonderful Dr. Jill and the nice people at Animal Care Clinic in Round Rock for caring for our kids and helping us with the cost of fosters when they can!

How You Can Help!

The total bill for all of this came to $314 (you can see a copy of the bill here). Normally Nikki and I try to raise the money in advance since we learned the hard way you can’t always make it back up. In an emergency, though, you just can’t wait. We then just try to pay for it out of our own pockets and raise money. This time we didn’t have enough, both of our bank accounts combined, so we applied for Care Credit and put it on that. We’d like to be able to pay it off before we accrue interest (26%, Yikes!). So yes, it would be wonderful if y’all could help us raise the money for this. O’Malley will also need his routine vaccinations when he’s feeling better. Thank you for your continued support. Know that it makes a difference in all of their lives! Toni & the kittens (Maggie Mae & Mel) have loving homes because you helped them out until they found their forever families. We really appreciate it!

As you can see, the ChipIn amount is for $325. This is because his clinic exam and vaccinations from Animal Trustees of Austin is $34. We only added $10 to the amount though because Jenn McKibbin donated the first $25 to O’Malley’s vet care. The direct link to the ChipIn is here. Thank you again, from us and O’Malley.

O’Malley’s Story

You can check out all of our foster O’Malley’s story here (or start here for the first chapter). He’s had a rough road, but full of love and support. And he’s looking for a forever home. Check out his video below.

Thank you!

Filed under: Animals in Need, Donations, O'Malley, Personal Stories on March 27th, 2012 | 1 Comment »

A Plea for Merlin

Hi everyone. This is strange for me because we have never asked for money for our own kids before. It has always been for fosters and even then only when we really needed the help. We have shared many ChipIns for other people’s personal pets but we have always tried to just muddle through on our own when it came to us. But this time, we really need your help.

As some of you may know, on Monday night, around midnight, Merlin had a seizure. It was one of the scariest things of my life and even as I was going through the motions of finding & calling the emergency vet and driving us there, it was like I was in a daze. I was shaking the entire time, even making signing for his care at the clinic difficult. My heart beat didn’t slow down for nearly 24 hours. Seriously.

Merlin had to have blood work done and had to stay at the clinic overnight to be monitored. That bill came to $368. When we picked him up in the morning, we took him to our regular vet. She watched him for us that day for free, because she is wonderful, but we still had the exam fee and she also did an FIV/FelV combo test on him. That bill came to $80. So we spent a total of $448 in less than 24 hours. We had to and we don’t regret it. Merlin is one of our children and we will do everything we can for him. But that was money we barely had.

Our vet recommended that we take him to a cardiologist to get an echocardiogram on him as the next step to diagnosing what may have caused his seizure. There are so many potential causes for seizures that it’s crazy. Our vet feels that, due to his history, the echo is the next best step instead of just blindly guessing and doing expensive titers. The echo should give our vet an idea of where to start looking. Besides, Merlin has needed an echocardiogram since last year.

A Little Backstory

Back in May of last year, right after our move, Merlin went into a terrible downward spiral. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Merlin wasn’t even 3 years old yet and was at death’s door. Our vet gave us medication to help his heart and to get the huge amount of fluid off his chest but we were basically told to take him home and give him comfort as he died. He could have a heart attack at any moment. We took him home and kept him next to us for days. Every time he had a panic attack because he couldn’t breathe due to the fluid on his chest, we cried and told him he could go if it hurt too bad. Every night before we went to sleep, we told him we loved him and said our goodbyes. Every time we woke up during the night to check on him our chests were tight as we strained to see if he was still breathing. And every time he was. And every day he grew stronger. And ate more. And got irritated with us being so concerned over him. And slowly, slowly, we weaned him off of the high dose of the Lasix (fluid medication). When we first brought him home, he was on SIX a day! Now, for several months, he has been maintained on only 1 Lasix a day as well as his 1/4 of Amlodipine (heart medication).

Until this seizure, our boy was back to being his usual self and you couldn’t even tell he had a problem. He eats & plays & causes mischief. Our vet was amazed at how good he looked when we took him in the other day and couldn’t stop saying it. Merlin fought hard & we fought hard and we are not giving up! If this is what Merlin needs, then he will get it! But we need your help. We are tapped out and this is not something that can wait. I have an appointment scheduled for him next week on Tuesday, Feb. 28th.

We Need Your Help!

So we have 5 days to raise $450. Please help us if you can. We will be eternally grateful. We put a lot into the animal welfare world and now we need to ask for a little back. But I swear to you that we will give it back again 10 fold. Animals are our lives. And this boy is our baby. Please help us find out what is wrong with him so we can make his life as good as it can possibly be! Thank you!

You can also check out the ChipIn page.

Everyone who donates will get a thank you from us on this post, on our Facebook (2170 fans) and on our twitter (18,500 followers). If you want us to link to your twitter account, be sure to give it to us in the notes of your donation. If you have a business that you’d like to promote on ILRA, NOW is the time to do it! We are offering 3 months of advertising, normally $255 for only $200 if you mention that you’re doing it for Merlin. And I’ll throw in a shout out on FB & twitter as well because we will be so appreciative! Is there anything else you want me to do for you in exchange for helping Merlin? Just ask and we’ll see what we can do. We have to do this for our boy. So please, please, help him. Thank you.

Thank you to these wonderful donors:

Stephanie Minck of SnotfaceCritter.com
Winnie Pickens
Kayla Spencer
Cain Demumbra
Stefan Schindler
Leslie Olyott
Rhonda Pickens
Jennifer Kelly
Patty White
Emily Jeske
Will Shoucair
Lost And Found Dog Rescue Adoption Center
Mackenzie Case

Filed under: Animals in Need, Donations, Personal Stories on February 24th, 2012 | 3 Comments »

Demodectic Mange: Beasley’s Story

Maintaining your dog’s immune system is vital to prevent Red Mange

Mange in dogs and cats refers to any type of skin irritation caused by parasitic mites. There are three varieties of canine mange:

1. Demodectic Mange – or Red Mange
2. Sarcoptic Mange – or Scabies
3. Cheyletiella Mange – or Walking Dandruff

Each type of mange differs by the type of mite, which burrow under the animal’s skin and even penetrate the hair follicles, causing painful sores and hair loss. While Sarcoptic and Cheyletiella mange are highly contagious to other pets and humans, Demodectic is not; however, it spreads the fastest and can be treated by antibiotic shampoos, dips and ointments, which I found in bulk via a pharmacy selling Canadian drugs online.

My Beasley’s story…

I was lucky, well my beagle, Beasley, was lucky when he was afflicted with Red Mange last summer after I boarded him in a kennel during my vacation overseas. When I picked Beasley up after my vacation, he seemed unlike his usual, hyper self. I didn’t think he was sick, but expected it was separation anxiety (and that perhaps he was punishing me for being away). However, as time wore on, Beasley started to show some really scary symptoms, including:

• Obsessive itching that caused painful sores on his front paws and under his left eye
• The sores turned red and scaly
• Then he suffered patches of hair loss
• That was it! My baby was going to the vet!

Treating Beasley…

Lucky for me, and for Beasley, I got him to the vet before the Red Mange took serious affect. If left untreated, our vet says that dogs with Red Mange lose patches of hair all over their bodies, and the sore turn even more painful, crusty and oozing.

I was shocked to find out that my dog contracted Mange just by staying in a kennel. The vet went over Beasley’s treatment options with me, which included:

1. A skin scraping from one area of hair loss—Beasley was not fond of this at all—which was taken to the lab for inspection under the microscope. Our vet said that animals will often need to be tested a few times as mites are difficult to detect.
2. Following the skin test, our vet prescribed Beasley with a topical medication, called Mitaban, as well as a shampoo.
3. Beasley was also given a series of Ivermectin injections over the next few months, and the doctor monitored him for allergic reactions (he didn’t have any).

What causes a dog like Beasley to contract Demodectic Mange?

I found out that there are several factors that can make a dog prone to contracting Red Mange, including:

1. A weak immune system—in Beasley’s case
2. Genetic predisposition
3. Underlying conditions such as cancer, liver disease or kidney disease
4. Prolonged steroid
5. Breeds disposition in Afghans, Alaskan Malamute, Airedale Terrier, Boxer, Doberman Pinscher, English Bulldog, Great Dane, Old English Sheep Dog, Shar-pei, Scottish and West Highland Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier and Weimaraners can be genetically prone

How to protect your pet from Red Mange

As I said Beasley was fortunate. His sores healed and his hair started to grow back within weeks. However, I’m writing this article in the hope that other pet parents will take Beasley’s story as a cautionary tale and do everything they can to protect their dog from this horrible condition. Our vet said that Beasley’s weak immune system was the cause of his tragedy. You can protect your pet from Mange, and strengthen their immune systems with these preventative actions:

1. Select a breed appropriate diet: Read up on species and breed, talk to your vet, and feed your pet a nutritionally, balanced diet.
2. Keep your dog clean and well-groomed—for example, ear and eye infections can spur parasites and can be prevented or reduced with consistent ear cleanings.
3. Use parasite preventatives—such as flea and tick collars, spot on treatments, essential oil blends, etc.

Stay safe!

—

Bernice Spradlin is an avid hiker and runner. She works at a gym in Brooklyn, where she gets great inspiration for her freelance health-related articles & blogs. In her off time, you can often find Bernice jogging the East River path along the waterfront and enjoying the cool breeze. Bernice is currently looking for freelance writing work, and can be contacted here.

Filed under: Animals in Need, Guest Blogs, Personal Stories, Pet Parent Files on December 13th, 2011 | No Comments »

*** Updated Tuesday, September 6, 2011

We need rain here in Texas. Badly.

That’s a picture from Big Dog Rescue’s Facebook page. They’re located in the Austin area, and their Vice President just had her house burned down and they’re looking for fosters to take in animals displaced. The Bastrop County Animal Shelter was evacuated as well and thanks to the awesome folks at Austin Pets Alive and the Austin Humane Society, all the animals were saved and they’re looking for donations and temporary fosters. You can find more detailed things they need by going to their facebook pages:

• Austin Pet’s Alive Facebook Page
• Austin Humane Society’s Facebook Page

*** Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter needs fosters ASAP! They took in 15 dogs from the Leader Fire and have run out of space. Please check out their facebook page for more updated information. If you’re a shelter/rescue/someone looking to adopt, please help them out!

If you haven’t heard, Central Texas is being hit HARD with fires right now. The biggest being the one in Bastrop that has burned up to 25,000 acres since yesterday, jumped the Colorado River twice, and has desecrated more than 300 houses. Over 5,000 people have been evacuated so far, and a mother and her 18-month-old child were killed. The winds from the recent hurricane aren’t helping. You can keep updated about the fires by checking the Austin Statesman.

We are located in east Austin and while the fires are supposedly moving away from us, we’ve still come up with our evacuation plan (packing up 20 animals is no easy feat). Standing outside in our front yard, the smell of smoke is strong. It’s scary. If we didn’t have so many fosters already, I know we’d both be at the shelter taking in animals right now. I’ll be continually nagging friends all day to make sure they’re okay.

Please send good thoughts, positive vibes, and lots of rain.

*** We will be updating our twitter account with information as we get it. Follow @RescueAnimals on Twitter!

Filed under: Animals in Need, Causes, Donations, News, Personal Stories on September 5th, 2011 | 3 Comments »

And we’re back with a new Rescue of the Week! Sorry this series has been a little lacking – we could always use some more stories though to help build it up! This week I’m super excited to show off our first non-mammal rescue: Pepper the Dumeril’s Boa! Her story comes from my best friend – thanks, Lee!

Rescue of the Week: Meet Pepper!

Rescue’s Name: Pepper
Species/Breed: Dumeril’s Boa
Age: Unknown

How did your rescue come to be in your life?

Pepper came to me while I was interning at the Denver Zoo. I’d only been there a couple of weeks, when my supervisor had asked me if I wanted an adult Dumeril’s boa. Now, up until that point, I had only ever kept small constrictors, and while I’ve always been happy to help out a snake in need, I was more than a little intimidated by the prospect of a snake that was over five feet long, weighed fifteen pounds, and ate rabbits every other week. But, by a spectacularly lucky combination of circumstances, I was able to find space for her in my tiny apartment, and after just a few minutes of handling her, I knew that I wanted her to be a part of my life. I don’t know much about her life before I adopted her, but I am immensely glad that I decided to take this lovely girl into my home. Pepper isn’t the first or last reptile that I’ve rescued (all too often, people view cold-blooded animals like snakes, spiders and fish as disposable, and I’d certainly recommend that anyone looking to get a pet reptile check out adoption before buying from a commercial breeder or dealer) but she is the only pet that I have who’s literally a zoo animal. And that makes her very special to me.

Tell us more about your rescue kid:

Pepper is definitely one of the biggest snake challenges that I’ve ever taken on. She’s very relaxed in her cage and eats and sheds well, but when she’s out, she is always determined to shove herself into the most inaccessible and incomprehensible place possible. She once broke my printer trying to crawl through the paper tray … She’s a little shy of people, sudden movements startle her, and she’s certainly not the girl I’ll introduce you to if you have a snake phobia. But she’s also incredibly gentle, and one of the most beautiful examples of her species that I’ve ever seen (Of course, I may be a little biased…)

(Oh, and if you’re thinking of dumping your pet reptile at the zoo, on the basis that it’ll be taken care of, just like Pepper was … well, unfortunately, she was a a very lucky break. Zoos across the country receive thousands of unwanted animals every year, and they don’t have the space to care for them. The very, very lucky ones are referred to local shelters, or otherwise rehomed. The vast majority are simply humanely euthanized, because zoos, especially those in the business of conservation, don’t have the resources, space or time to take care of unwanted pets.)

Your name: A. Jaszlics
Where you and your pet can be found on the internet: Worm Salad

Filed under: Personal Stories, Rescue of the Week on January 10th, 2011 | 2 Comments »