Coopers Epileptic Emergency

Hi, I’m Coopers (new) mom Caitlyn!

In short:
We are raising money for Coopers emergency medical costs from his epilepsy and continued cluster, grand mal seizures (ER visit and current inpatient stay, MRI, IV drips to sedate and control the seizures). We have been quoted $3k for the ER and $3-4k for the neurology consult and imaging work up. We are starting out with a smaller goal but hope to surpass it with the love and support from our wonderful friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances

The long of it and how Cooper came into our lives:
Cooper was found in Burgettstown, PA back in March of 2020 by a lovely woman who wanted to keep him safe. She did right by him and posted in the larger Lost Dogs Pittsburgh Facebook group asking if anyone recognized him in hopes of finding his owner. The day Cooper was found and his “mugshot” haha:


Unfortunately, her own doggo was not having it and she was unable to keep Cooper. I commented letting her know to get him scanned for a chip and that I thought Animal Friends would be a great place that might be accepting animals in the midst of the pandemic.
We got to messaging and both had Coops best interests in mind, so we concluded that if she needed help I’d be there. Cooper did not have a chip and it didn’t seem anyone recognized his handsome little face. Luckily her friend wanted to give it a try and take him into her home! A few weeks went by and the friends resident cat was not a fan of Cooper and resorted to staying in the basement. The original finder reached out to me to ask if I thought Animal Friends would still accept him. There was also mention of a possible seizures and at that moment I knew Coop needed to stay out of the shelter at all possible costs. I agreed that Coop could come crash with us for a little while until we got things sorted out. The vet that saw him before he made his way to us wasn’t overly concerned about the seizures, and said if he had another then he should get checked out. No biggie then, I figured we had it in the bag!
We met the young woman who had Cooper that weekend to pick him up. INSTANTLY FELL IN LOVE. He was kind of a loud mouth and definitely still very scared and unsure of the world. I thought, “it’s okay Coop, our pack will teach you all the things and give you all the love.”
He fit RIGHT in with our other 4 doggos and snuggled in bed with me his very first night. We recognized some separation anxiety and little manner issues that seemed like no big deal! We went a few weeks without a seizure and then BAM, a night of 5 total grand mals and our first ever ER trip with a pet.


We rushed to PVSEC, scared, upset, and worried for our new guy. They got the cluster under control and gave us a new med regimen to start and let us know all the side effects and challenges that were ahead of us.
We visited our regular vet, the amazing Cranberry Vet Hospital, shortly after for a check up and found that Cooper tested positive for Lyme. They estimated that Cooper is only a little over a year old, which explains his vibrant, puppy like nature! We felt like we might finally have some answers and had hope that the seizures were just a symptom of Lyme disease! We started a month long antibiotic course and actually had some good results during that month.
We were finally able to get a neurology specialist appointment in, where we continued to work on a plan for getting Cooper to a therapeutic place seizure wise. The part that breaks my heart the most is that our incredible doctor guesses that Cooper was likely dumped due to his seizures and his original owner not being able or wanting to get him the help he needs.

The past 3-4 weeks Coopers seizure have gotten significant worse in both severity and frequency. As of today, he has had 20+ full grand mal seizures since Tuesday last week.
We visited the ER once again on Thursday last week and due to the estimate, decided to go the outpatient route and add two new medications to hopefully break the cluster of seizures at home.
This weekend was HARD, the hardest one yet. Friday night he had 6 seizures in an hour, and continued to have a few a day both Saturday and Sunday. At 4am this morning (Monday 8/3), he went straight into a grand mal in his sleep and continued going in and out of them for another 2 hours. I called our neurologist right away and left a voicemail. They called me back shortly after with urgency in their voice saying he absolutely NEEDS to get to the ER right now. So I clocked out, went home and scooped my guy up to get him there ASAP.
He is there now and we are waiting for neuro to evaluate him again. For the ER stay alone we’ve been quoted up to $3,000, and the full neuro work up included MRI is going to be close to another $3-4,000.
I know times are so tough for everyone, absolutely unprecedented, and it makes me queasy having to ask for help and not be able to help my family member on my own, but we are asking if you have anything you can give, to help us get our Cooper the care he needs and deserves.
Cooper has one of the brightest, funniest, sweetest personalities I’ve ever experienced in a pupper. He is goofy and snuggly and the most handsome boy ever! He is so young and deserves this fighting chance more than anything. We have no idea what his life was like before that fateful day he was found in Burgettstown, but we know his life with us is filled with love and fun and devotion to give him all that he deserves.
We appreciate any and all help we can get and will do the same for you if god forbid you are ever in need Thank you for your consideration in helping our pup!!!