Hello everyone,

As some of you may know, I recently joined a new member into my little family, Layla, our now 6 month old Golden Retriever. Layla represents all the qualities and attributes of her breed, plus so much more and has completed my life. She is my dream.

Since Layla was a puppy, I noticed she had some form of food sensitivity. I took her to the vet quite a bit trying to discover what the problem was. We treated her with a probiotic initially to see how if that would have any effect, and it didn’t. Secondly, we tried putting her on antibiotics, and that worked however as you would know - it is not sustainable to depend on for long amounts of time. We continued to have the same issues with Layla, she would have diarrhoea, occasionally vomit, be quite lethargic - but we just couldn’t get to the bottom of it. I then got recommended to put her on the Hills digestive care prescription diet, and that seemed to work instantaneously. We were quite relieved. I received a number of opinions on how sustainable it was for Layla to be fed the prescription diet for an extended amount of time, and with her being a puppy, I was even more so hesitant as I wanted to enable her to have the maximum potential to grow and mature properly.

I continued to research and see what foods could potentially be the best for her and we tried different types of food however I got the same reaction and at this stage we didn’t know what else we could do.

In the past few weeks, I noticed more severe types of signs that were quite worrying to me as they weren’t the same as they had always been. Layla’s character would fluctuate, some days she would be bright and happy, and then others she was really dull and depressed. Each time I noticed a change in her personality, I took her to the vet. They could only really draw from her history of stomach sensitivity and conclude that it was just a more extreme (severe) day.

The last 48 hours have been the most upsetting and stressful times for me, as Laylas conditions dropped dramatically. She was presenting symptoms of vomiting, diarrhoea, extreme lethargy, she seemed quite weak (as in she would struggle to stand), her white blood cell count was most concerning, loss of appetite, and she has a high fever of 40 degrees. She had x-rays and ultrasounds which presented as no concern to the vets and no evidence of the potential for a foreign body obstruction, however something was wrong and they just couldn’t figure out what is was. On Friday night we got sent home with medication, in hopes it would remedy my little girl.

Saturday morning came and I saw no real improvements in Laylas conditions. It wasn’t until the afternoon I was watching her and she walked around a corner and her back legs didn’t seem to turn with her body. I continued to watch her for the next 10 minutes, and noticed that she was really struggling to have strength in her back legs and she was very stiff in her gait. I immediately called the emergency vet and we went there straight away. They expressed that they think I should attend another clinic where they had more resources to help determine what Layla was experiencing. 

She stayed over night last night at the hospital on a drip and with more examinations, I got a call from the vets this morning expressing that they had worried that Layla has either an infection in her spine or something seen in her breed and age which is inflammation in her arteries in her spine. They formed this conclusion as when completing their head to tail examination Layla showed prominent discomfort in her spine, to the point where she tried to bite the vet. I was distraught and didn’t know what to do. I was told the costs associated with the procedures and processes to determine which of the conditions she had I knew I was really going to struggle to afford it.

To break down the costs (of what I have spent and is what needed to be spent) is below:

I have spent: 

What is needed for her on-going care and for the best result possible:

Layla has pet insurance with RSPCA, however unfortunately I am in the 30 day “cooling off period” which means I am unable to make any claims - even for emergencies.

When accounting for my monthly costs, and trying to sell things to pay for the bills or finding casual jobs to help with the costs - I am are still unable to pay for the bills.

Layla is my world, and home isn’t really the same without her. I miss having my bright, bubbly and adventurous little girl with me and it really breaks my heart to see her like this and to feel completely helpless in so many ways. Layla is so loved by my family and friends and she never fails to put the biggest smiles on everyone’s face - everyone knows Layla when is in the room or at the park.

I have included some images of her so you can see what I see and are so lucky to have on a day to day basis.

Thank you for taking the time to read Layla’s story and for your support. It means the world to me. 

Disclaimer: I am not by any means an expert and I have tried my hardest to explain the situation the best I can. If you have any further questions about Layla please feel free to message me.