Hope's medical care

Hope 'watchandwager' the greyhound has been diagnosed with a treatable autoimmune disease that has been triggered by an undiagnosed underlying virus.  May 14th was the first time we took her to the vet and she has been touch and go on surviving the last couple weeks. She showed remarkable improvement last weekend when we started treating her for an uncommon bacteria named bartonella that has a 50-60% false negative rate upon testing.  Through the latest treatment we saw her fever drop from 105 to normal for a few days however with the removal of one of her antibiotics, baytril, her temperature has progressively increased back to 104.5 this morning.  We reintroduced the baytril 2 days ago at a lower dosage.

We have taken advice from a specialist at the Greyhound Health Initiative who has over 43 years experience in medical treatments for greyhounds.  He has suggested we use a very good immuno suppressant that won't increase the risk of disseminating the underlying infection.  They usually see rapid responses in patients and a high proportion of dogs with autoimmune diseases respond well long-term with this treatment. The drug is designed for humans and is expensive but we are really out of options for the poor gal.  

Her bills were already significant but the treatment and care plan for this route  unfortunately comes with an $8,000 cost.  

Hope put on 7 lbs this week and was eating well.  She had shown signs of life returning with some short walks late at night in the cool weather.  her love of cats and small fluffy tails survives.  So long as she keeps on fighting, i'd love to do everything i can for her but i must ask for some help.