Saturday, February 25, 2017

Canine leishmaniasis


We found out that our beloved Monty (18 month old Swiss Shepard) has Canine leishmaniasis, its a horrible disease where parasites eat you from the inside out. Monty was born in Spain, he was given to us by the breeder because
he was born without testicles. Soon after we got him home we saw he had a limp, we discovered he
has dysplasia. Poor guy already with a bad deck of cards he gets bitten by a sand fly while in Spain and contracted the Leishmaniasis. There is no cure but there is a treatment that essentially puts 
the parasites in a coma. Your dog can live a long healthy life 

Monty
Jefe (means "the Boss" in Spanish)
you can see how healthy he is
 his eyes are nice and open, their dad was a 3x world champion
this guy is a serious athlete

 Monty is the smaller one



First thing we noticed was the dramatic weight loss, you can see the difference 
between him and his brother Jefe (Jefe is a bit pudgy right now). 

 He has this scaling on his ears and his eyes and all over his body, It really bothers him, he is constantly rubbing them and they are now red and swollen.
Monty is a super happy pup, his tail is constantly wagging and he is super affectionate. 
Even though he looks sad all the time he doesnt show it. 

Today we started his treatments, he will have a daily shot, and some pills.
Pills are Zyloric allopurinol to help his immune system

Marfloquin for the skin infections

We are taking this a week at a time to see if there is a difference, if
there is no difference we will have to put him down. We are horrified
at the thought so we are determined to fight this.

_______________________

First day of shots


From my part

We drink Kombucha daily, I make it and have a huge scoby hotel. I read
that the scoby is just as good for dogs. I cut the scoby in pieces and give him
a piece daily. I also give him some kefir (I also make my own).
He wont just eat the scoby I have to put it in the back of his throat and close
his mouth and make him swallow. I give him a treat afterwards every time.


Day 7


Poor guy sleeps a lot, I am seeing just a slight improvement. He has
stopped losing weight and the dermatitis isnt getting worse. 

His energy comes and goes but he no longer plays with his brother. His paws
bleed and this hasnt stopped with the treatment. Next week we do lab work
to see if there are less parasites. 


Day 13

Monty is looking much better today I took him for a walk,
the vet said it would be good for his morale to get out.
We walked for 10 minutes and I could tell he was out of juice.
His weight has remained stable.





Day 18

Not looking good, the parasite has attacked his digestive system and he
is vomiting everything he eats, today we start him on predinisolon to see
if that will help him digest. He is now not even eating, he wont last
another day like this :(


I fed him this yesterday and he vomited it up today which
means its just sitting in his stomach.


Day 20



Monty pretty much sleeps, he hasnt eaten




R.I.P Monty

May 11, 2015- March 16, 2017

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