Support Harper's Fight Against Liver Shunt

POOR PAWS RESCUE NEEDS YOUR HELP!

My name is Cara Szeles and I am Director of Poor Paws Rescue.Harper (aka Squid) was one of the last babies rescued off a euthanasia list in July. Besides being very thin, she was a happy baby rolling over for tummy rubs upon meeting, but things quickly turned for her as she started showing signs of kennel cough on the way home. Besides not feeling well from kennel cough, something was very off. She wasn’t making eye contact, running into the door, and just way to calm for a puppy. Even the vet at the shelter noticed something was off and tested for parvo (which was -) A couple weeks later Harper went in to be spayed, but her body crashed and she wouldn’t wake up from anesthesia. She was in a coma. Hours later the doctors were able to wake her by getting her sugar up with IVs. She stayed over night with the vet and after being able to observe her behavior they concluded she likely has a rare condition called portosystemic shunt (PSS) or Liver shunt. The portal vein is a large vein that collects blood from the gastrointestinal system, pancreas, and spleen and carries it into the liver, where toxins and other byproducts are removed. A liver shunt occurs when an abnormal connection persists or forms between the portal vein or one of its branches, and another vein, allowing blood to bypass, or shunt, around the liver. This is so rare, many vets have no idea how to treat her and it is life threatening. She cannot have any medication, including wormer and flea/tick, because the liver cannot process it, hence why she couldn’t wake up from surgery, nor can she have animal protein. What we learned is when Harper was rescued, she was in active liver failure due to dog food and medications/shots. So we quickly moved her to a vegetarian diet where she ate small amounts every 2 hours. With this she improved, but was quickly loosing weight. Her body wasn’t digesting anything, you could tell what she ate as it was whole in her stool. With that, we decided to start using a food processor and purée her food. She has improved significantly, making eye contact, able to see to door, playing, tail wags, and actually just relaxing and not constantly pacing. But even with this her growth is stunted and life expectancy is shortened without surgery. Surgery is $3k-$5k and there are grants available, but we must get a proper diagnosis through bloodwork and ultrasound. She is scheduled for an appointment early November, but that appointment is quoted at $700 to $1200. Poor Paws Rescue is a small rescue that is an intricate part of saving so many dogs in GA every week, but was hit with multiple large vet bills at once and sweet little Harper hasn’t had any funds to save her life for the 3rd time. She is strong at the moment, even if her body is full of worms that she cannot even be treated for until she is diagnosed, but if she doesn’t make this appointment it would be many more months until she gets another chance and could quickly decline. Donations are the only way this baby is going to get the treatment she needs. Anything helps and can be written off.

Please help us give her a chance.