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"Save Cricket Ditty Medical Fund"

Hello my name is Margaret Ditty I am a pet lover and a very worried pet mom of a 5 pound toy Chihuahua.  I am trying to raise money to pay for my toy Chihuahua's Cricket's medical expenses that is saving her life!  

On February 4th,  2016 my sweet 7 year old Chihuahua was diagnosed and treated with GME (Granulomatous Meningoencephalomyelitis) however she has the more severe version of GME called NME (Necrotizing meningoencephalitis).  This is a horrible neurological disease of the immune system.   Basically the white cells not only eats the infection or virus in the brain but also eats the brain cells itself leaving lesions!  Hence we are now dealing with neuroligal complications (i.e. vision loss, migranes, loss of balance).  

I believe this was triggered by a middle ear infection that went into her brain.  When the symptoms of GME/NME first appeared in October of 2015 we took her to her vet  who did not diagnose her early enough as they should have.  They examined her ears and sent her home with ear drops and said, "use them as needed".  Then the symptoms were exasberbated by her most recent set of annual shots.  Cricket started going blind and walking like she was drunk and falling on the floor and her behavior changed dramatically.   Since her original vet  did not diagnose her properly we took decided to take her to another vet, Dr. Elliot who diagnosed her with neuroligical problem at Acredale Animal Hospital .  He recommend that she see a neurologist immediately!   Had the vet at Portsmouth Animal Hospital provided early diagnosis we would have been able to minimized the neurological problems (i.e. brain damage) that she is experiencing and get her into remission!

We rushed her to the neurological vet up in Richmond Virginia called Bush Veterinary Neurology Service who had to hospitalize her over night to give her Chemo treatments, Prednisone, Omeprazole, Clindamycin, and Cyclosporine.  The link explaining this disease is below:   
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/08/03/granulomatous-meningoencephalitis.aspx  

Thank god Dr. Higginbotham was able to save her life! He will ALWAYS be my hero and Cricket's too!

As we drove home in the car Cricket  was so sick from this disease that my heart just ached for her.   I was heart broken by the fact that her annual shots most likely exaserbated this undiagnosed disease . I held her in my arms and wept for fear of loosing her and seeing her suffering.  There are ways to avoid this by having your vet do a titer test to see if if your dog has enough antibodies so they don't need the annual shot.  They are finding annual shots are unneccesarry and appear to be causing this disease or making it worse if already present in your toy breed, although it cannot be verified scientifically yet.  If you have a pet please educate yourself on revacinating your dog each year (except Rabies which is required by law),  see link below: http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/08/06/pet-vaccination.aspx 

My husband and I weren't prepared for this expense but we put it on our care credit card and do not have to pay the bill for 6 months.  We do not have pet insurance and now we couldn't get it as this is considered a pre-existing condition!  To save her life we may have to have more Chemo treatments not to mention a good year and a half or more of meds to keep the disease in remission. If she can ever get off them at all.   I also have a MinPin named Tinkerbell who is on heart medication and eye medication and my sons Corgi who is being fed a special diet to prevent stones in her bladder.  He is a full time college student and can't help with her medical expense at all! 

Emotionally I was not prepared for this type of diagnosis on a dog that is in the prime of her life.  She is the sweetest most loving Chihuahua with the most adorable personality and I love her with all my heart!  I want to fight to save her life until they tell me that they can't save her.   The treatment has stopped her suffering and the progression of this disease thus far.   It appears the inflamation in the brain has stopped.    As long as she is not suffering and she is willing and able to fight this disease I want to do everything in my power to save my little furbaby! 

I am a mortgage underwriter by profession and my goal is always to help others realize their dreams of homeownership and I have been doing so for 26 years!   I only have one dream right now, "To save my Cricket from this disease".  Won't you please consider donating to help me save her life?    I will be eternally grateful for any donation you can make and will be an answer to my prayers for my sweet little Cricket.   I believe in the kindness of strangers and I believe in miracles! 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart and Cricket thanks you too! 

If you don't feel comfortable donating online you can send a personal check, cash or money order to: 

Margaret Ditty 
5405 Carisbrooke Court,
Virginia Beach, VA.  23464


P.S.

If you can't donate that's okay too just please say a healing prayer for my little sweet dog in the comment section below and take a quick moment to share this gofundme link on your facebook timeline to all your friends and family. 

UPDATE:  See Cricket progress video's by clicking the links below: 
Personality Comeback:  https://youtu.be/xmZ2jp3bkqE 
Water Therapy:  https://youtu.be/7KMtFMU6Wv4 
Walker Therapy: https://youtu.be/XM6y8EK_5HQ 
Dr. Buzby Toe Grips working to help her Ataxia:  Video is coming soon!

TO READ CRICKET'S ARTICLE ON THE I LOVE MY CHIHUAHUA WEBSITE GO TO:  http://ilovemychi.com/gme-a-deadly-condition-you-probably-never-heard-of/ 

TO READ CRICKET'S SECOND ARTICLE ON DOG HEALTH NEWS GO TOhttp://doghealthnews.com/autoimmune-disease-dogs-gme-awareness-vital/ 

To watch her TV Cable TV show go to Dog Health News hosted by Roberta Chadis todayhttp://doghealthnews.com/dog-vaccination-schedule-dosage-dog-health-risks/


Organizer

Margaret Ditty
Organizer
Virginia Beach, VA

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