Support Roxanne's Journey to Recovery

Hello! This is Christina, Roxanne’s mom. Thanks for looking at this page and considering helping our fur family in supporting Roxanne through this hard disease. We’ve attached her story below and appreciate any help we can get!

September 2021—Early June 2024

In 2021, my fiancé, Jack, and I had been together for four years and were ready for a big next step: a engagement (our took place this year on September 14) and a puppy that we could train as a therapy dog.

As an anniversary gift to ourselves, we adopted Roxanne, an adorable Goldendoodle. We had met her when she was about 6 weeks old, and we had been planning and preparing for her. We bought everything she needed and researched the top veterinarians in town. We were ready!

Roxie was loving, happy-go-lucky, and smart. We immediately enrolled her in puppy training. Over the next 24 weeks she progressed through beginning, intermediate, advanced, and therapy-dog classes. Given her personality and intelligence, we were sure that she would be able to share her love and energy to uplift others. After all, she already had been one of the biggest joys of our lives!

We also had been socializing her with our two household cats, our neighbors, and with other dogs. She made friends with every person and every critter she met. Roxie became our sidekick and closest companion, traveling out of town with us to visit family and encouraging us to explore our beautiful city by going on hikes and to swimming holes with us.

Late June 2024

We began to notice that Roxie was hesitant about jumping on or off our bed and that she was a bit less energetic than usual. She also seemed to have developed a bit of weakness in her right hind leg. We assumed that she simply had played too hard (which had happened before), so we gave her a few days to rest. This time, though, she didn’t seem to be recovering. She continued to have more difficulty with walks and bathroom trips, and she showed some signs of pain. We began to give her NSAIDs to help ease her pain and that seemed to help.

Thursday, July 5, 2024

Roxie had started knuckling, turning her toes under when she walked. Dr. S did a complete physical exam, including x-rays. The x-rays showed that, thankfully, none of the discs in Roxie’s spine were herniated. She did, however, have signs of hip dysplasia (a genetic deformity of the hip that occurs during a puppy’s growth), but Dr. S noted that it was mild. They also said that Roxie had a slight tear in her right knee (an injury equivalent to an ACL tear in a human).

At Dr. S’s recommendation, we made an appointment to see an orthopedic surgeon. That specialist would not be available until July 17. In the meantime, the Dr. S advised us to restrict Roxie’s activity, increase her NSAID dosage, and start her on two new medications: Wellactin, an omega-3 supplement, and Dasuquin, a joint-health supplement.

Wednesday, July 10— Friday, July 12, 2024

Dr. S had also suggested that we get Roxie a knee brace. We ordered one from Amazon, but that one proved to be extremely uncomfortable. After doing more research, we ordered a brace from OrthoDog and paid for expedited shipping. We received the OrthoDog brace on Thursday, July 11. Using video and printed instructions, we tried to adjust it for Roxie’s needs, but when she wore that brace, she arched her back, as if she were in pain. We made several attempts to fit the brace ourselves and we called Dr. S for help. We eventually removed the brace. It didn’t seem to be alleviating the pain in her knee. In fact, it seemed to make Roxie more uncomfortable in general. We also began to wonder if more than Roxie’s knee was a problem, because she seemed to have limited range of motion in her ankle as well. We asked Dr. S to take another look at her x-rays and to call us back. We did not get a callback.

Saturday, July 13, 2024

We tried to take Roxie on our normal morning bathroom walk. She seemed to be in more pain than ever. She was shivering, panting, arching her back, and struggling to move. Up to this point, she had had no trouble squatting. Now she did. Again, we reached out to Dr. S to recheck the x-rays and for help with fitting the brace. Instead of calling us back, Dr. S scheduled us for her next available appointment—July 16.

We didn’t want to wait that long. Roxie was in severe pain and we might be doing more damage with the strategies we were using. We rushed her to the emergency vet. After a more than 5-hour wait, the Dr. M, the vet on call, told us that Roxie may have a spinal injury or inflammation, that she may not make it through the weekend, and that if we moved her in the wrong way, we could cause her to be paralyzed. Roxie needed to be on strict crate-rest until July 16, when we would see Dr. C, the neurologist.

Dr. M also consulted with Dr. C, the neurologist, sending her a video of Roxie walking and received files from Dr. S in order to best inform our next steps. He also told us to stop the NSAIDs (anti-inflammatory drugs could confuse the diagnosis) and to switch her to Gabapentin three times a day. That way we could have a clear understanding of the issue.

Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Roxie is a fighter, and she made it through the weekend. But by the time we saw Dr. C, she had started to drag both of her hind legs. We agreed to all the necessary medical procedures, including an MRI and a spinal tap. She was diagnosed as having meningoencephalitis, an inflammation of her central nervous system caused by an autoimmune disease. Roxie’s body was essentially attacking itself.

The course of treatment for meningoencephalitis is to shut down the immune system as quickly as possible. In order to give Roxie the best chance, we agreed to an overnight hospital stay during which she received a continuous drip of chemotherapy and steroids.

Wednesday, July 17—Friday, July 19, 2024

On Wednesday, after bringing Roxie home, we noticed that she had begun to develop pressure-sores between her legs. Now that she was receiving chemotherapy, she was immuno-compromised. Any infection could kill her. We called the emergency vet, who prescribed antibiotics. In addition, as the vet directed, I began using gauze pads and saline solution to clean her wounds.

On Friday, July 19, Dr. C called to tell us know that Roxie’s spinal-tap results showed that there were no signs of infection and confirmed the autoimmune cause of Roxie’s issues. We were on the right track with treatment.

Sunday, July 21—Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Jack and I had been very fortunate. We had been able to trade off shifts to care for Roxie, but on Sunday, we both were scheduled to work. We had to leave her crated for part of the day. When we got home, it was clear that she was in extreme pain

We rushed Roxie to the emergency vet. The doctor on call checked her sores and shaved the fur around them to make them easier to clean. Roxie was also running a low fever. The vet said that we still were in a “wait-and-see” period. We took Roxie home again.

On Tuesday, July 23, Dr. C called to check on Roxie. When she heard about the visit to the emergency vet, she told us to bring Roxie in immediately. She wanted to check Roxie for herself. Roxie’s temperature was normal, and Dr. C sent us home with more topical antibiotics.

Dr. C also told us to increase Roxie’s steroids to full dosage. We had been giving her a conservative dosage while we waited for the spinal-tap results. When we able to switch to the higher dose of steroids, we began to see improvements! Day after day, baby steps in the right direction gave us hope.

Late-July 2024—Present

We have watched Roxie slowly regain motion in her left hind leg. She continues to show more interest in food, is more alert, and interacts with us more. Our Roxie is beginning to come back!

During the last week of July, I started my new job as a certified school psychologist. As a result, I’ve been unable to be at home as much with Roxie as I had been. She spends time in her corral—not in a crate—and she has adjusted well. Roxie’s immunocompromised state means that our apartment complex is no longer a safe place for her to walk. The steroids make her very thirsty and hungry, so she cannot go more than about three hours without a break. We rely on pee-pads on our patio, and Jack goes home during his workday to let Roxie out for bathroom breaks.

On July 31, we had a huge win. Roxie was interested in her toys and bones again. (She spent hours gnawing on one of her favorite treats, a peanut-butter-and-jelly-stuffed bone.) Every day, her squat is getting stronger and she wants to do more and more (like drinking water from the tub faucet). She wants to walk around the house more often, so we do several assisted rounds every day.

The chemo/steroid treatment is not definitive. About 33% of dogs do not respond to it. Of the 66% that do respond—and Roxie is one of them!—50% are eventually able to stop treatment. The other 50% remain on some form of chemotherapy and steroids for the rest of their lives.

On August 8, Roxie received her second round of chemo. She continues to get stronger. She has regained some of her reflexes. And she is in much less pain. She began hydrotherapy on a treadmill on August 13 and is using a wheelchair to help build mobility. She continues to have physical therapy twice a week and will need monthly chemo for the foreseeable future. Roxie is continuously improving, but she has a long way to go to reach a full recovery.

Roxie’s treatment is expensive and will be needed for at least another year. Jack and I have done everything we can to take care of Roxie. We have accumulated thousands of dollars in debt in order to diagnose and treat her disease as well as providing physical therapy for Roxie to regain her muscles and retrain her nerves in her back legs. We will continue to do all we can to help her live her best life, but we would greatly appreciate any help during this challenging time.