Crumpet/Olive
Update 07/12/09:
After 5 months of fostering Crumpet through
sickness and health, I knew I could not give her up. I adopted Crumpet on
June 6th, 2009. Her new name is "Olive". Olive and I are so grateful to GRR
and friends for doing everything in their power to give Olive a second
chance. After months of testing, medication and surgery, Olive has
transformed into an amazing butterfly. Olive is my heart, my best friend, my
co-pilot and cuddler. We go everywhere together. Sweet Olive is happy,
healthy and skips to meet new friends wherever we go. Olive and I look
forward to fostering other Goldens in need of help and home in the future.
Tamara
Update 4/24/09
Crumpet is home from the hospital with one mended ear and three mended paws.
She is loopy, but happy. We say, "Thanks GRR!!!!"
Her hips checked out fine and we are waiting for thyroid results. Post-op
check up is next Thursday.
Lick… Lick… Wag… Wag…
Zowie! Bring on the
agents, script offers, and bodyguards to fend off paparazzi. Crumpet
attended our annual picnic and knocked ‘em dead with her movie-star looks.
The next step in her transformation? Ear surgery. We were hoping that
medications and anti-inflammatories would take care of her chronic ear
problems, and in fact the right ear can now be managed with topical
medications alone—but the left one is a different story.
“Unfortunately the left ear canals
are calcified and stenotic. Unable to see down the horizontal canal. The
only treatment option left is a surgical procedure called a Total Ear Canal
Ablation (TECA). If she does not have this surgery, the infection down in
her ear will continue to be a chronic, painful problem and could lead to
middle and internal ear infections, which can cause neurological problems
such as vertigo, systemic infections, facial paralysis and head tilt.
Surgery should be curative.”
So, what is TECA? It actually
involves ablation—removal—of the entire ear canal from the skull outward,
opening and cleansing the tympanic cavity. After surgery, the dog feels much
better and may even start acting a lot more frisky, due to the relief, at
last, of long-term pain and discomfort. Some even act like their hearing has
improved!—probably because they just feel better and are more willing to be
active. Of course, Crumpet is a Social Butterfly already, so who knows what
she will accomplish in her post-op career!
The board has already approved
Crumpet’s surgery, and it’s set for April 21st. We are ALL
looking forward to the end of those chronic ear problems… probably for the
first time in most of Crumpet’s life.
TECA surgery (and removal of interdigital cysts at the same time): $1,471.
Update 3/31/09
A picture is worth a thousand words! Just check out
Crumpet’s Day 63 photo, posted at the end of her full story. The fur is
coming in faster and she is a happy girl. She
smiles and wags all the time!
Crumpet Day 1
“A train wreck.”
“An unbelievable mess.”
“Where on earth would we start?”
“Too many battles on too many
fronts.”
Looking at Crumpet as she sat in her shelter kennel, that’s all most people
saw—the massive fur loss, thickened gray skin, infected ears, and all the
rest. But there’s more than one way of looking at a dog like this. And
here’s what GRR saw—and still sees:
Two soft, glowing brown eyes that look out at the world with trust and hope.
A brave heart beating strong and true.
An optimistic, outgoing, sociable
attitude that lets Crumpet enjoy life despite her troubles.
Gratitude,
love, and appreciation for any kindness she receives.
A dog who has
maintained her sweetness through challenges that would batter almost
anyone’s spirit.
… and so, when many people would regretfully say, “We have to pass on this
one,” we say: “Come with us. We’ll help you if we can.”
Helping Crumpet regain her
health is proving to be a tall order. If you’ve read her
original story, you
already know a little about this wonderful girl’s sterling personality and
physical challenges. She came into care just about 5 weeks ago, and since
then we have been boosting her barely-there thyroid function with daily
doses of Soloxine, and working hard to address her systemic
infections—involving ears, eyes, and skin—with oral meds, topical meds, and
medicated shampoos. But then came allergy season, and Crumpet really got
slammed. Said her foster mom, “She is having some major flare-ups and we
believe it is caused by outdoor allergies. All it takes is a walk down the
block to make her break out in welts and hives. Her skin cracks and bleeds,
her eyes swell shut, she’s suffering from constant itching & she shakes her
head all the time to relieve the discomfort. I have been giving Crumpet 2
Benadryls per day in addition to the rest of the regimen. This is not
helping her. Dr. Stried
recommends we get in to see a dermatologist ASAP.”
And this brings us back to what caused the hair loss and skin issues in the
first place: probably allergies; maybe sarcoptic mange; maybe both. The
dermatologist sent a long page of notes: “Crumpet has severe hyperplasia of
the folds of the earflaps [in layman’s terms, her earflaps are thickened and
hardened, with the canals closed due to swelling] with a bad-smelling
infected discharge trickling out. Large interdigital cysts were present
between the 4th and 5th digits of the front paws. She
has severe bacterial dermatitis secondary to allergies and possible
sarcoptic mange. Food allergy, atopic dermatitis, contact allergy and flea
allergy are four allergies that we see in dogs… To test for food allergy, we
perform an elimination diet… Intradermal skin testing is the preferred
method to diagnose atopic dermatitis. Allergy shots would be made based on
the positive results and are effective in 75 to 80% of dogs…”
Crumpet is now on a high dose of prednisone to open up her ear canals, along
with continued antifungal and antibiotic medication. She’s on ivermectin to
eliminate sarcoptic mange if it’s present (it does not always show up on
skin scrapings). The vet’s notes read, “If her ear canals do not open on
this dose of steroids, she will need surgery.”
Crumpet has already started on a hypoallergenic food: Z/D Ultra Allergen
Free, which costs about $92 for each 27.5-lb bag. So far, her vet visits
have totalled about $950, and allergy testing will add hundreds more. And if
she needs ear surgery, that will add a few more thousand.
It’s natural to ask: Why spend all that on just one dog? Couldn’t you better
use the funds to save many other, healthier dogs? The answer to that is
simply that whenever we bring a dog, ANY dog, into GRR, we make a promise:
“We will help you as best we can.” Old dogs, young dogs, well dogs, sick
dogs, the “contract” is the same: whatever it takes to get you fit and find
you a forever home. And if that means spending a lot, so be it. But that
never means that any other GRR dog loses out! With the help of our vets and
our caring GRR community, we always find a way.
We knew Crumpet would be a major project from the start. And she is worth
the effort! She’s the most beautiful dog you would ever want to know,
wrapped—for now—in an un-beautiful package. Everyone she meets is bowled
over by her sweetness, her interest in life, her sociable attitude, her hope
for a better day. It’s our job to try and make that better day arrive for
her.
Crumpet
Day 35
… and we are making progress! Just compare the photos from Day 1 and Day 35, and read the latest from Crumpet’s foster mom: “She is doing much better on the new antibiotics and prednisone. No more scratching, bleeding, or welts right now. I can actually take her to a park for about 30 minutes each week. I take her on car trips for fun. Otherwise, I keep her indoors. She is a total love. I think her ears look much better and I am really hoping that when we go back to see Dr. Daigle on 3/10 that she’ll find just a need for deep ear cleaning vs. surgery. I wash bedding and Crumpet every 3 days. I have been working on her skin and paws every day. Independent of all of the health conditions, I can tell that Crumpet is so incredibly happy. She wags her tail. When she does get to go to the park, she looks back at me with an actual doggie smile. She loves to meet new people. She loves her food and cozy bed. Oh! and did I mention? I am starting to see new fur come in! Yea!”
Crumpet Day 63