Hi everyone, as some of you may know, earlier this week my rescue dog Kiki had what the emergency veterinarians believe was a major seizure and a symptom of a much larger problem.

In the days leading up to her seizure, I noticed what appeared to be mild visual impairment causing her to walk into things, people and walls and leaving her with friction alopecia on her forehead and nose as well as one ear with brown build up which led me to make a non-emergency appointment for a possible ear infection (this would not be the case).

On the morning of her major episode, I found her standing in a trance, foaming at the mouth, delirious, unable to walk, close her mouth, eat, drink or do anything except for vocalize what I can only describe as screaming once she realized I was there with her. I immediately threw clothes on, picked her up and rushed her to the emergency vet.

Once we got her to the ER, we were there from 7:00am to 11:30am where they stabilized her as much as possible and the amazing vet Dr. Adkins made calls to 3 separate colleges and referred us as an emergency case to Mississippi State University’s Vet College to see a neurology specialist.

The closest technology to help her in the state is over 2 hours away from Birmingham, Alabama and they were the only people who could promise to see us while she was in critical condition.

We immediately made the 2.5 hour drive to MSU where she stayed overnight having tests and imaging done to try and find a diagnosis which we were told would likely come back positive for cancer or some form of encephalitis. Both of which would be long term and potentially a lifelong treatment plan.

She was given an MRI and a cerebral fluid sample was taken and sent off for testing. Results are pending, but through the MRI she showed an abnormal shadow on her brain stem which they have ruled out as negative for cancer, but now we wait for the spinal fluid test results to see if she has Autoimmune Encephalitis or a form of Infectious/Parasitic Encephalitis.

While coming out of anesthesia, she did not wake up for an entire hour, which is NOT normal and we almost had to make an end of life decision.

Finally, I got the call that she woke up and I left work and rushed back to MSU to be with her.

Now we are back home and she is on 3, twice daily medications (steroid, anti-epileptic and an antibiotic) as well an active seizure stopper that we must keep on standby at all times.

I’m trying to make sure she has the best care and medication management possible to give her a long, healthy life and a successful road to recovery. She is my world, an amazing dog and she deserves to be helped.

Understandably, this has taken a massive financial toll on myself and my family in just a few short days and this is not anywhere close to the end of medical costs for us or Kiki.

I am just looking for some financial assistance to help with the thousands of dollars we have already paid in life saving measures as well as set aside a little to help with the upcoming bills for the multiple future exams, specialists and medicine adjustments to try and keep Kiki stable.

Any money that ends up not being needed will be donated to our local animal shelter, Greater Birmingham Humane Society to be used to save other rescue dogs just like Kiki.

Thank you for reading ❤️

-Sarah