Precious Gems Hedlund Husky Litter
Donation protected
In September, a beautiful litter of four Hedlund Huskies was born in Anchorage, Alaska. All appeared active and healthy until the age of 7 weeks when things began to change and go very wrong.
Emerald was the first to show signs of neurological distress and then, Sapphire and Ruby followed with an instability in their legs. Thankfully, Diamond remains unaffected. In all other ways, these puppies are normal except that they can't walk.
Their dedicated human, Karen, has taken Emerald, who shows the worst signs of the three, for numerous veterinary visits including a neurologist who did a spinal tap. The neurologist took the results to a conference in Germany and consulted with the best neurologists in the world. The word used by the vet office was "stumped". The best neurologists in the WORLD have no idea what is wrong with these puppies but they did say that their condition is acting like Cerebral Palsy does in children. There is more genetic testing that can be done, however, as you might imagine, it is expensive.
Lack of funds makes it impossible to properly diagnose and seek a treatment path for all three puppies and then to execute this plan. The next step is to get the other two in for spinal tap testing and to get MRIs completed. In the meantime, Karen is working daily with three puppies that can't walk by using a supportive harness to get their legs moving. She's created a walker out of PVC piping to allow the puppies to be up off the ground that helps them move themselves forward, however, only one is able to do this. They seem to do well after each session and do get up on their feet for moments at a time before stumbling back down to the ground. Taking the puppies for swim therapy is also on the busy schedule for Karen.
Our fear is that if we wait much longer for a proper diagnosis, that these puppies will miss a very important window of opportunity for proper treatment and irreversible damage will be done and they will never be able to walk. These puppies need help ASAP and this is why we have started this page. Any funds raised will go directly to the diagnosis and care of these puppies. It will also allow for valuable information on this condition to better the Hedlund Husky line and to help ensure that this does not appear in any future litters.
Emerald was the first to show signs of neurological distress and then, Sapphire and Ruby followed with an instability in their legs. Thankfully, Diamond remains unaffected. In all other ways, these puppies are normal except that they can't walk.
Their dedicated human, Karen, has taken Emerald, who shows the worst signs of the three, for numerous veterinary visits including a neurologist who did a spinal tap. The neurologist took the results to a conference in Germany and consulted with the best neurologists in the world. The word used by the vet office was "stumped". The best neurologists in the WORLD have no idea what is wrong with these puppies but they did say that their condition is acting like Cerebral Palsy does in children. There is more genetic testing that can be done, however, as you might imagine, it is expensive.
Lack of funds makes it impossible to properly diagnose and seek a treatment path for all three puppies and then to execute this plan. The next step is to get the other two in for spinal tap testing and to get MRIs completed. In the meantime, Karen is working daily with three puppies that can't walk by using a supportive harness to get their legs moving. She's created a walker out of PVC piping to allow the puppies to be up off the ground that helps them move themselves forward, however, only one is able to do this. They seem to do well after each session and do get up on their feet for moments at a time before stumbling back down to the ground. Taking the puppies for swim therapy is also on the busy schedule for Karen.
Our fear is that if we wait much longer for a proper diagnosis, that these puppies will miss a very important window of opportunity for proper treatment and irreversible damage will be done and they will never be able to walk. These puppies need help ASAP and this is why we have started this page. Any funds raised will go directly to the diagnosis and care of these puppies. It will also allow for valuable information on this condition to better the Hedlund Husky line and to help ensure that this does not appear in any future litters.
Organizer and beneficiary
Linda Newman
Organizer
Karen Llewellyn
Beneficiary
