Jakeyjake
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- Joined
- Apr 7, 2014
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So we loved Jake so much, Stella is what happened next. I trusted the same breeder and told her I wanted a female. I sent a deposit for Stella sight unseen. When I finally went to see her I got a pit in my stomach. She looked like a little alien puppy with patches of missing hair on her head. Clearly did not look healthy. Apparently one of her siblings had been suckling on her head and she developed an infection. The breeder took her to the vet and she was put on antibiotics. When we picked her up she looked much better. At 11 weeks old, I woke up to a very sick puppy, vomit, diarrhea, foaming at the mouth, trembling and seizures. The vet thought she had ingested something as curious puppies do, so they scoped her. Found 6-8 tiny pieces of black plastic/rubber substances in her stomach, but couldn't get them out, she was so small, only 4.5 lbs. at the time. Still to this day I don't know where that came from. So he did a gastrostomy to remove the particles. Ouch! The next day at the vet's office she had another seizure. They put her on phenobarbital. We went to visit her and I honestly thought about returning her to the breeder and getting another puppy, but my daughter started crying and tore at my heartstrings right in the vet's office. It was recommended that we take her to a neurologist because my vet suspected she had hydrocephalus (water on the brain). So two weeks later we did the MRI and she has mild to moderate hydrocephalus. I debated with many vets about the seizures being caused by what she ingested and they all said that was not likely and that it was due to the hydrocephalus. My breeder agreed to give us another puppy, through her tears and apologies, but I suspected she would have put Stella down as she would not be able to breed her. So we decided to keep her and do the best we could for her. I went with my gut and weaned her off of the phenobarbital a couple of months later. So far so good, she has been seizure free for about 5 months now. But in between this, she was attacked by my daughter's Am. bulldog and suffered a perforated ear drum and some stitches on her chest. She then developed incredibly horrible allergies. Scratching to the point of losing her hair and getting secondary infections. We have literally tried everything and so now she is on cyclosporine, which I am not thrilled with, but I don't want to constantly give her antibiotics and refuse to give her steroids. Sorry for running on and on, but I just wanted to share our situation in case someone ever has a similar diagnosis. Stella is such a strong little girl, but I have never had so many health issues with a dog in such a short amount of time! We are happy to provide her with whatever healthcare she needs and hopefully she will live a long, happy life with her brother Jake
