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Medical-Mystery-Milo! Help support Milo's health journey

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Milo is the sweetest, happiest, bounciest two-and-a-half-year-old goldendoodle who just found his way to his forever home at the end of September 2024. After less than two wonderful weeks together, Milo and Mem (that’s me, Milo’s human - not mom, not mum: Mem, because that’s how it sounds in dog-talk!) are now facing a number of challenges after he developed rare but serious complications from one of his routine vaccines. I am Milo’s 3rd family and I never want him to be anywhere else from now on.

The first week and a half together for us was fantastic! Milo had lots to learn about things like leash manners and pottying outside, but he made incredible progress in short time. Mem did her best to set this big boy up for success by making him a vet appointment to get up-to-date on vaccines, registering him for pet insurance, signing up for group training classes, finding the best collar, harness, and leash combos, finding in-home groomers willing to work with him, all while working diligently on training. Mem even found a cool daycare nearby for Milo to socialize with some doggy friends once a week! Unfortunately, all of these plans came crashing to a halt when Milo got very sick, very suddenly.

The evening after receiving his routine vaccinations and flea/tick prevention, he was his normal, goofy self – just a little extra cuddly. He ate his food and we went to sleep as usual. The next morning, Milo had no interest in his food but wanted outside right away, so we went for our morning walk. He peed (in a new spot – a very big step in his progress with pottying outside!) and pooped for the first time outside, so he got all the treats and praise! He still had no interest in food when we came in, and he vomited several times shortly after. From there, his energy slowly declined. He lost interest in eating, drinking, and playing. For a couple days, Mem figured his body was just reacting to the vaccine, which is normal for up to 48 hours.

By the third day, Milo had significantly deteriorated. Not only was he not eating and vomiting again, but he was so lethargic he could hardly walk. Mem knew something wrong and rushed him to the nearest open urgent care – of course, this happened on the weekend when most local clinics are closed. After a VERY EXPENSIVE exam, Milo was given a shot of medication for nausea and sent home with some wet food and more antinausea meds. Over the next day, he continued to decline: he had a fever, his eyes were bloodshot, he couldn’t get up on the furniture himself and struggled on the stairs, his breathing was rapid and he seemed to be in pain.

Knowing his case was quickly becoming emergent, Mem camped out at their regular vet for an hour and half until they opened, making sure they were the first one’s in the door to try and be seen. They were able to squeeze him in for an assessment based on the urgency of his symptoms. After running some bloodwork, the vet determined that Milo had a life-threatening disease called immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA). Treatment and prognosis of IMHA varies greatly amongst cases of IMHA, but the disease has a high mortality rate with fatalities of up to 80%. Immune-suppressive drugs are usually used to treat IMHA to decrease the body attacking itself, so Milo started a high-dose steroid right away. This is a major diagnosis, so Mem went home and did lots of research – and the prognosis was not good. Thankfully, Mem has a few friends in the vet community who were able to look at his bloodwork from this diagnosis, and the consensus was that not enough testing was done to confirm such a serious disease.

Mem previously worked with an amazing dog rescue who reached out to ask about Milo and offered to have him seen at their vet – one of the best in the business. The next day, Milo and Mem made the long journey 2 hours out of town to see this special vet, where they ran more extensive testing. Although we still don’t have a full picture of what is happening with Milo’s health, the vet was able to mostly rule out the IMHA diagnosis; while it’s still not off the table completely, he is missing some key markers in his bloodwork that would confirm IMHA. Although this is wonderful news, we still don’t have answers as to why Milo’s health declined so quickly. He has been making steady improvement over the last week and is currently being weaned off the steroids, but he’s still not himself. We have a follow-up appointment this week to recheck his bloodwork and potentially run more tests if his lethargy hasn’t improved after coming off of the medication.

Milo is such a sweet soul with so much love, energy, and zest for life in him that it’s been heartbreaking to see him so sickly. Despite not having answers yet, his vet bills have added up to well over $1000 already and we are still not done. That doesn’t include all of the additional expenses Mem has spent spoiling him with all the thing he needed to get set up for his best life in his new forever home; those total costs add up to about the same that has been spent on vet visits. Even though Milo has been registered for pet insurance, all of these complications happened too early into his plan to be covered; moreover, he might be ineligible for coverage because of all these mystery health issues, so Mem is in desperate need of some financial assistance to get this beautiful boy some much needed funds for his ongoing medical needs.


About Mem:
As someone who battles multiple chronic health issues, Mem spends a lot of time alone at home, making her animal companions her whole world. After losing her last forever cat and dog rather suddenly and close together this past spring, Mem was heartbroken in ways she couldn’t describe. After taking a few months to grieve, she knew she needed a dog back in her life, but she wasn’t sure she was in the right headspace to adopt so soon after losing her ‘soul dog’ and cat; moreover, she was still recovering financially from all of the vet bills inquired earlier this year.

After fostering a sweet little dog for a couple months, Mem was open to taking in another foster but was also on the lookout for her forever companion to join in her fostering journey. After many failed attempts at adopting, Mem found Milo and the stars aligned. Although she typically was drawn to senior dogs, Mem had a goldendoodle puppy a decade prior. When she saw an ad for a two-year-old goldendoodle, Mem felt like the universe had aligned for her. Milo gave Mem a second chance at her dream dog. The love and joy he has brought her is indescribable, and she will do everything in her power to keep him healthy and happy. Mem has always been drawn to special needs dogs and strongly believes that Milo was brought to her for a reason!

Because of her poor health, Mem has been on disability for several years and only makes a small income working online. Even though she made sure to have a nest egg of funds ready for adopting a new dog and registered him for pet insurance right away, these unexpected vetting costs are far beyond what she had saved. As much as it pains here to ask for help, Milo’s medical needs are still ongoing and the bills are quickly mounting. We are hoping that by sharing his story, we can get some funds together to ensure he can get the ongoing care he needs. If any friends and family of Milo and Mem are able to donate, we will be incredibly grateful. Mem will continue to keep this page up-to-date with his medical progress, as well as his social media pages – @miloandmem on TikTok and Instagram.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our story. Wishing you all health and happiness!

Sincerely,
Milo & Mem




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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $50
    • 2 d
  • Sarah Hardy
    • $50
    • 3 d
  • Megan Taylor
    • $20
    • 13 d
  • Kathleen Zurcher
    • $50
    • 16 d
  • Anonymous
    • $30
    • 16 d
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Organizer

Mem - Milo's Mom
Organizer
London, ON

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