Support for Shadow's ongoing medical care

Shadow was an energetic, playful and loving 3 years 9 months old German Shepard dog until 10 days ago when his health rapidly deteriorated.

On Wednesday 5th February we noticed Shadow was not quite himself, whilst he tolerated his walk, he would not engage in meal times which was very unlike Shadow to only be interested in his water. Shadow was passing more urine which was darker in colour than normal which alerted us to something not quite right with him. After attending the vets on 6th February where he had bloods taken due to a high temperature and a mass felt in his stomach we took Shadow back home. The next day we sought for a second opinion however Shadow was also booked in at the original vets for an ultrasound and x-ray as his blood results showed his platelets and white blood cells were low. Both vets recommended Shadow went to a specialist vets as he was showing signs of being very poorly and required further testing.

Shadow was admitted to the specialists on 7th February and to date Shadow is still there with little improvement and no answers as to why he is so poorly. Since being at the specialist vets Shadow has suffered with high temperatures, low platelets, low white blood cells, raised bilirubin, raised LFT, a possible bleed on his spine, urine incontinence, enlarged prostate and Melena. So far the specialists have ruled out, Leptospirosis, a urine infection, a infection in the heart, Pneumonia, Brucella, Toxoplasma, Cancer. A CT scan was performed and no signs of infection have been identified. So far Shadow has had x-rays, ultrasounds, a CT scan, multiple blood tests/cultures, urine samples. He has received treatments so far in the form of; 2 lots of IV antibiotics, IV steroids, IV fluids, IV paracetamol, vitamin K, Ketamine, Prazosin, Ypozane, Vincristine (chemotherapy), and urinary catheter. As you can imagine this has come at quite an expense and we have now surpassed our £7000.00 insurance allowance and by the end of the weekend the bill will be £12,800 which by this point we will also have drained our life savings. The specialists believe they can still help Shadow to get better after showing some signs of improvement, however it is unclear at the moment whether some of these improvements are solely due to the high levels of medication he is on.

The proposed plan for Shadow currently is to have repeat bloods on Monday to check platelet levels after receiving chemotherapy today and to possibly test for Babesia. Each day at the specialist vets is costing around £583 without any extra medications. We are so close to being finically exhausted, but the vets are still hopeful that once Shadow has a diagnosis, he will be able to enjoy life again. Any support anyone can give us, no matter how little to help us bring Shadow home will be so greatly appreciated.

Please help us bring our fur baby home.

Love Carol and Mark