Help Alfie the Galgo Get Better!

Alfie (aka Alfred T. Galgo-Backes, aka Alfredo, aka Mr. Sticks, aka WALF) is currently a very sick little boy. For the last several months, he has been experiencing hair loss, muscle weakness, and weight loss. He has undergone a battery of diagnostic testing including bloodwork, skin scrapes, ultrasounds, needle biopsies, and more. He has been seen by vets at our local clinic and at the University of Wisconsin school of veterinary medicine. His vets believe that he has leishmaniasis, a disease that is treatable but not curable. Once his vets have as much information as possible about the state of his kidneys, blood, and everything else, we'll be able to make decisions about a course of treatment.

Unfortunately, because Leishmaniasis is so unusual in the United States, Alfie has been the first case for nearly all the vets he has seen so far, and so his diagnostic testing has been extensive. The medicine needed to bring his flare under control is also hard to source here and apparently very expensive. Diagnostic testing alone has been in the multiple thousands of dollars, and treatment will probably cost enough to send the children of the entire vet team to college.

All the funds we raise will go toward Alfie's vet bills and treatment going forward. We're hoping that we have caught this disease early enough so that he hasn't suffered permanent kidney damage and that with aggressive treatment, we'll be able to bring this flare into remission. Many dogs with leishmaniasis live long and happy lives, and with the right care, Alfie should have another 8-10 years of squirrel patrol and couch surfing ahead of him.

About Galgos

Alfie is a galgo (or Spanish greyhound) who was rescued off the streets of Spain in the spring of 2018 by a group called Galgos del Sol. In September of 2018, he was flown to the United States by a group in Detroit called MotorCity Greyhound Rescue, and just after Thanksgiving 2018, he found his forever home with me. At the time he was rescued, they estimated his age to be about two years old, so he'll be six in the spring of 2022. Galgos are raised for hunting, not racing, at at the end of the hunting season each year, thousands of them are abandoned or worse. As greyhound race tracks have closed down in the USA, the number of retired greyhounds needing homes has decreased significantly, so greyhound rescue groups here have begun bringing other sighthounds, including galgos, from abroad in order to help with the massive need in other countries.

Like greyhounds, galgos are gentle, lazy couch potatoes who can look very dignified in one moment and totally ridiculous in the next. Unlike greyhounds, galgos can run the gamut from very sleek to very fuzzy. We're talking Muppet levels of fuzziness. Some galgos look like extras from one of Jim Henson's stranger projects. Alfie, of course, is the perfect balance of sleek and fuzzy.

About Leishmaniasis

Leishmaniasis is a disease that's extremely rare in the United States but fairly common in Spain. It is transmitted by biting sand flies, and can remain dormant for up to seven years. It is not curable, but it is treatable. Once the disease is under control, it can go into periods of remission in which dogs can live long and happy lives. The disease can also have periods where it flares up and symptoms become worse, and treatment goes from maintenance to aggressive. If untreated, leishmaniasis can lead to kidney failure and death.