Help Koda receive urgent specialist treatment

My name is Jasmin. My wife and I adopted our dog, Koda, in April this year. He very quickly became a huge part of our life, and was known by friends, relatives and neighbours for being a very bright, cheeky and energetic boy who loves to play and go for long walks (and a splash in the nearby stream!), as well as being an absolute fiend for treats. He’s been known on more than one occasion to sneak his way into a bag of treats and finish the lot!

On the week commencing the 7th July this year, we noticed he started acting a bit strangely, and was eating his treats more slowly and pulling his head to one side when he yawned. We took him into the vets where they examined him, took his temperature and everything came back unconcerning. The vet agreed he ate some treats a little tenderly, but there was no obvious cause and no noticeable injuries. Koda was prescribed a weeks course of Onsior (NSAID pain relief) and we were advised to call back if anything changed.

Initially he improved slightly, but then toward the end of the following week seemed to deteriorate. He started drooling, had some discharge from his eye and his third eyelid was visible. He was completely disinterested in treats, and was refusing his bedtime dental chew. We called the emergency vet on Thursday night (17th July), but as he had managed to eat his dinner, drank water and was going outside to toilet they felt he could wait to be seen until the morning.

We were able to get him seen the next morning (18th July), and he was examined again. This time he had a slight fever, had some swelling to his head and face and had lost almost a kg in a week and a half, but otherwise still examined well. They took some blood samples, extended his course of pain relief and commenced him on some oral antibiotics. We discussed the possibility of a CT, but as Koda was acting relatively normally otherwise it did not need to be done as an emergency.

Then this Sunday (20th July) Koda deteriorated further, refusing to eat or drink or even leaving his crate. He was growling if we tried to approach him, and refused to even go outside to toilet. We phoned the emergency vet again and they wanted to see him right away that night, so we took him in. It was noted he looked very sad, and was very quiet. He had a fever again, his head was still swollen and he was very drooly. The decision was made to admit him for an IV cannula, IV fluids and pain relief, with a plan to do a head CT scan on Monday.

Koda had a general anaesthetic for his CT, however when they came to intubate him (put a breathing tube down) they could not open his jaw any further than 4cm. The CT came back abnormal, with changes noted across his head and in his jaw joint, and showed possibly an abscess in the muscles in his head and face. His imaging and notes were sent to a specialist for opinion. He has continued to be an inpatient, staying at the hospital on IV fluids, IV antibiotics and IV pain relief. He has been eating small amounts, but still seems to be in pain with his jaw.

This morning (23rd July) our local vets still hadn’t heard back from the specialist they initially referred to, so they made contact with a different specialist. They contacted Willows in Solihull (an hour and 40 minutes away from where we live) who have discussed Koda’s case and want to transfer him to them for ongoing investigations and care.

They plan to utilise a specialist team including anaesthetists, sonographers and specialist maxilla-facial veterinary surgeons. They will fully anaesthetise Koda, try to open his jaw (if they can) and thoroughly examine his mouth and throat, potentially repeat his head CT to look for any changes, utilise a specialist ultrasound sonographer to scan his head to see if they can find any pockets where a foreign body or abscess may be, and then operate on his head if anything can be identified. They have accepted him tomorrow, so we will be driving Koda across tomorrow morning.

The tricky part is this. Willows have given a cost estimate of £8500 for this treatment. Koda’s insurance covers up to £7000, however because he has been an inpatient and been receiving treatment since Sunday we are already up to almost £4000 of that total.

We absolutely want to do the best for Koda and get him the treatment he urgently needs so that he can come home, and get back to causing absolute mayhem.

Thank you for reading.