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Dear Friends,
Please meet our beloved Bair—7 month old Old English Sheep Dog whom we adopted back in November, 2020 when she was only 8 weeks old.
Finding Bair was a stroke of good luck. We had been looking to rescue a puppy that could acclimate to our kitties and go on adventures with us. When Bair’s photo popped up on the adoption database, we jumped on it.
It turned out that Bair was one of four pups that survived a Parvo outbreak, and due to this, she was abandoned with her brother and sisters by a backyard breeder. SaveMyTail Rescue picked them up, cleared them of Parvo, declared them “normal” and “healthy”, and put them up for adoption. We paid a hefty $1200 for Bair’s adoption, which we were told was a typical adoption fee for this rare find… No sweat! It was a small price to pay for the fate that brought us together.
However, from the first night we brought Bair home, nothing was “normal”. That morning, Bair suffered a seizure. We rushed her to the emergency vet and found out she was severely underweight, malnourished, and hypoglycemic. When we explained this to the rescue, they assured us that this was also normal and common for puppies adjusting to a new home. They told us to decline the bloodwork that was suggested by the emergency vet doctor.
We will always regret not standing our ground that day because it would have saved us a lot of time wracking our brains over what was wrong with her. Admittedly though, we just wanted to believe that she was okay.
For the next several months, Bair would be in and out of the clinic and emergency vet for one problem or other. The rescue offered no advise or condolence in the matter, and frankly, we started suspecting foul play a while ago. Despite the rescue’s suggestion, we eventually got Bair’s bloodwork done, which was the first step in uncovering Bair’s condition.
After a bile-acid test and an ultrasound, we confirmed that she had a congenital portosystemic (liver) shunt (PSS). This means that Bair’s blood bypasses her liver, disallowing the liver to detox her blood. The toxins thereby continue through her bloodstream, and throughout her body. When it reaches her brain, it causes a neurological condition known as hepatic encephalopathy. Some symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy are dementia, circling, blindness, and seizures—all of which we’ve experienced since the first night we brought her home.
Dogs with PSS must eat a specialized diet and take medication to compensate for what the liver cannot do. Bair's medication must be administered every 8 hours for the rest of her life or until she’s cured. Medical management is not fool-proof, and at any moment she can have a neurological episode which requires a visit to the emergency room. The specialized diet and medicine allows her a semblance of normalcy, but it won’t last forever. Unless PSS is treated, she will have a very short lifespan.
In California, there is only one doctor who can perform the procedure that treats PSS. He specializes in the procedure know as percutaneous transvenous coil embolization (PTCE). We believe that we are already so fortunate that Dr. Culp and this procedure even exists.
It’s a minimally invasive procedure with a 92% success rate. The cost of the procedure itself is $12,000, not including the CT scan, potential time in the ICU, and post procedural review. The procedure is performed at UC Davis Veterinary Hospital, 400 miles north of where we live, and will take at least 5 days. And while it is expensive, it is also the best veterinary school in the world. We are desperate to put Bair into good hands, if not the best hands.
Your kind donation will go towards Bair’s procedure, travel, lodging, and a chance at a normal life. The sooner Bair is cured of PSS, the sooner she will get to experience real food and chew on a real bone, receive vaccines, and play freely with other dogs. We can’t wait to see the look on her face and all that happy wiggling.
Bair is also doing her part by partaking in a clinical trial, which will help doctors better understand PSS and other similar conditions, so that other dogs can have a chance at life too.
Thank you so much for reading, your time, and support!
Please meet our beloved Bair—7 month old Old English Sheep Dog whom we adopted back in November, 2020 when she was only 8 weeks old.
Finding Bair was a stroke of good luck. We had been looking to rescue a puppy that could acclimate to our kitties and go on adventures with us. When Bair’s photo popped up on the adoption database, we jumped on it.
It turned out that Bair was one of four pups that survived a Parvo outbreak, and due to this, she was abandoned with her brother and sisters by a backyard breeder. SaveMyTail Rescue picked them up, cleared them of Parvo, declared them “normal” and “healthy”, and put them up for adoption. We paid a hefty $1200 for Bair’s adoption, which we were told was a typical adoption fee for this rare find… No sweat! It was a small price to pay for the fate that brought us together.
However, from the first night we brought Bair home, nothing was “normal”. That morning, Bair suffered a seizure. We rushed her to the emergency vet and found out she was severely underweight, malnourished, and hypoglycemic. When we explained this to the rescue, they assured us that this was also normal and common for puppies adjusting to a new home. They told us to decline the bloodwork that was suggested by the emergency vet doctor.
We will always regret not standing our ground that day because it would have saved us a lot of time wracking our brains over what was wrong with her. Admittedly though, we just wanted to believe that she was okay.
For the next several months, Bair would be in and out of the clinic and emergency vet for one problem or other. The rescue offered no advise or condolence in the matter, and frankly, we started suspecting foul play a while ago. Despite the rescue’s suggestion, we eventually got Bair’s bloodwork done, which was the first step in uncovering Bair’s condition.
After a bile-acid test and an ultrasound, we confirmed that she had a congenital portosystemic (liver) shunt (PSS). This means that Bair’s blood bypasses her liver, disallowing the liver to detox her blood. The toxins thereby continue through her bloodstream, and throughout her body. When it reaches her brain, it causes a neurological condition known as hepatic encephalopathy. Some symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy are dementia, circling, blindness, and seizures—all of which we’ve experienced since the first night we brought her home.
Dogs with PSS must eat a specialized diet and take medication to compensate for what the liver cannot do. Bair's medication must be administered every 8 hours for the rest of her life or until she’s cured. Medical management is not fool-proof, and at any moment she can have a neurological episode which requires a visit to the emergency room. The specialized diet and medicine allows her a semblance of normalcy, but it won’t last forever. Unless PSS is treated, she will have a very short lifespan.
In California, there is only one doctor who can perform the procedure that treats PSS. He specializes in the procedure know as percutaneous transvenous coil embolization (PTCE). We believe that we are already so fortunate that Dr. Culp and this procedure even exists.
It’s a minimally invasive procedure with a 92% success rate. The cost of the procedure itself is $12,000, not including the CT scan, potential time in the ICU, and post procedural review. The procedure is performed at UC Davis Veterinary Hospital, 400 miles north of where we live, and will take at least 5 days. And while it is expensive, it is also the best veterinary school in the world. We are desperate to put Bair into good hands, if not the best hands.
Your kind donation will go towards Bair’s procedure, travel, lodging, and a chance at a normal life. The sooner Bair is cured of PSS, the sooner she will get to experience real food and chew on a real bone, receive vaccines, and play freely with other dogs. We can’t wait to see the look on her face and all that happy wiggling.
Bair is also doing her part by partaking in a clinical trial, which will help doctors better understand PSS and other similar conditions, so that other dogs can have a chance at life too.
Thank you so much for reading, your time, and support!