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Just before Christmas 2005 I discovered a growth on Flo's the terrier's chest. We knew about MRSA because a family member had contracted it while in hospital and we were naturally anxious that Flo should not become infected during the procedure to remove the lump.

I emailed the pets-mrsa web site and immediately Jill got in touch. I had so much good and practical advice from her and her expert contacts as well as moral support when needed.

Thanks to Jill and the kind care of our vet, Flo came through, infection free and with her joie de vivre undimmed, and continues to give us delight.

Zack Weeks-Brown is yet another Samoyed who contracted nosocomial MRSA, at a university vet hospital in February 2006. Fortunately, his surgical site was not involved, and he suffered "only" a MRSA skin infection. It took almost 2 months before a dermatologist figured out what was going on, and, by that time, Zack had been on the wrong antibiotics continuously since surgery. Samples collected in August 2006 finally confirmed that he was free of the MRSA. Jill provided on-going counseling to me over a period of months. She sent me scientific proceedings from the Liverpool conference, which were helpful both to my understanding of the affliction and in helping me craft a proposal for reimbursement to the university. She called me overseas and stood ready to help me in any way. Yesterday, the hospital administrator agreed to refund a good portion of Zack's MRSA-related expenses. Really, the expenses didn't end with the lack of detection of MRSA. After long courses of several different antibiotics, Zack's skin was cycling back and forth between population explosions of yeast alternating with population explosions of several types of bacteria. That cycle was initiated by the initial wrongful course of antibiotics that was given to Zack right after his routine (!) surgery. Zack is a darling boy. My husband and I adopted him (on the left in the photo) and his twin sister Zoey (on the right) in November 2005. The prior spring, they had been taken to the vet for euthanasia at age 7, due to uncontrolled diabetes. The vet refused to kill two beautiful, sweet dogs for no good reason, and asked that they be surrendered to him. He stabilized their diabetes (the owners had not complied with medical advice) and turned them over to Buckeye Samoyed Rescue, where they lived for several months prior to adoption to us. I have found "second-hand" Samoyeds to be extremely affectionate and bonded to their owners, as Bella was to Jill.

Their love and charming dispositions inspire tremendous love in return. There is no such thing as an unwanted Sammy, there are only some Sammies in unwanted homes! Rescue seeks to unite these wonderful beings with owners who will understand them. www.samoyedrescue.com

Maple our beautiful bouncing boxer went in for a TPLO operation on 19th July 2006. We were not at all worried about it as she had gone through the same operation a couple of years before for her other leg. That operation was a total success, this one was not!!

She came home two days after her TPLO weight bearing and looking pretty healthy, but three days later her leg became very swollen very quickly and I took her straight back to the veterinary specialists. She was immediately put onto a course of antibiotics and there she stayed for over a week while the vets waited for the swab results. It came back MRSA positive! I was horrified - it had not crossed my mind that she would have such a frightening bug. In total panic I went onto the internet and there I found The Bella Moss Foundation, Jill emailed me back almost immediately, what a relief it was to find such a wonderfully informed person who was able to give much more reassurance that the vets had been able to for fear of reprisals if all went wrong. Luckily the vets had put Maple onto the correct intravenous antibiotic immediately, and then on confirmation of the MRSA they implanted antibiotic beads into the infected area, and tapped her knee joint to check that was clear – it was. These were in place for 10 days during which Maple was in isolation and not able to come home as the wound was weeping.

We did not see her for the first 10 days as every day I thought she would be coming home but upon confirmation of the MRSA we needed to see her. What a shock we had, she had dropped an enormous amount of weight and although very pleased to see us she was very poorly. We really thought that we would lose her. The vets were becoming increasingly worried about her lack of weight bearing on the leg and tapped her knee again 10 days after the previous tapping. The MRSA had invaded her knee joint! Another operation was needed to implant yet another string of beads. She stayed in for another 10 days, we went to see her every other day, but I felt this was only upsetting her even more so we stopped going. The wounds finally healed up and she came home for almost two weeks, we knew that the beads needed to be removed and were dreading her going back in, she had them removed and she came home the next day, only to go back two days later when the second wound erupted again. The MRSA was still in the knee joint, she underwent yet another operation to implant yet more beads into the joint, this time they left the wound open to drain fully. Three weeks later she was still in isolation and the wound was still weeping, but by now the discharge was clear - it was the joint fluid preventing the knee capsule from healing up. So yet again she had another operation to stitch up the hole. Eventually the wound stopped weeping and she came home. She had been in for a month this time.

In total Maple was in hospital in isolation for 10 weeks barring the two weeks she came home in the middle. It has been the most emotional and worrying summer for all of us, but Jill and Mark were there for us for the entire time, constantly reassuring us that Maple would be OK as the infection had been caught so early. They were right. Maple is back to normal with a slight limp and a lack of muscle, but both should improve over time. We now live with the threat that the plate from the original TPLO operation (which is still in her leg) could flare up at any time, so we are being vigilant. Out vets admitted that Maple had had the most persistent case of MRSA that they had even experienced.

I hope that Maple’s story will give hope and reassurance to anybody who’s pet is suffering with MRSA, it can be beaten! Keep up the good work, Jill; you are an inspiration to us all. Thank you.

Inca is our 3 year-old gentle and kind rottweiler who came to us as a stray. She broke both her back knees in 2006 and whilst at the Queen Mother's Hospital contracted MRSA. After 8 months of excellent treatment I am happy to say she is now healed and just lovely.

Helen Mansfield

Dowie was 8 years old when he contracted MRSA. He was admitted into the Veterinary Hospital due to a persistent problem with his ear. I'm not sure what you call it, but basically blood collects in-between the flaps of skin and can be drained off. If this doesn't work, a small operation is carried out to remove all the blood and then stitch the two flats of skin down.

The op went well and Dowie soon was back to his old self. However, about five days later, his ear was very inflamed and sore and causing him great distress.

I returned him to the Vets who gave him more antibiotics and sent him home, only for me to have to return with him again the following evening because it was much worse. They then booked him in as an in-patient and put him on a drip of antibiotics.

Two days later all seemed to be well and home he came.

Sadly after a few more days the ear was a dreadful mess and this time "something" was spreading onto his face.

They admitted him once again and he was in the Vets for a total of 12 days on three different antibiotic drips at once. For 10 of those days, I didn't think he would return home to me, but finally the corner was turned and he did, although he still had to have the ear cleaned three times a day and more antibiotics.

At no time was I told that Dowie was suffering from MRSA, only a "particularly resistent bug". It was only after Dowie was given the all clear, that one of the Vets actually said, "not many dogs recover from MRSA, he certainly is made of strong stuff". You can imagine my horror at being told this.

None of the Vets in the practice ever explained to me how he had caught MRSA, merely asking whether or not I was a nurse - I'm not, I work in the legal profession.

Poor Dowie suffered horrendous pain and discomfort during the time as an in-patient and when he got hom. He was a very brave dog (he had 13 malignant tumours removed in his life) but seeing the distress he suffered with the MRSA was nearly too much to stand.

Last year, Dowie died suddenly after suffering seizures in the middle of the night. He had never had seizures before and I have to wonder if it had something to do with the MRSA in his ear - perhaps spreading into his brain - unknown to me or the Vets. The only way they could know for sure would to have been to carry out a post-mortem and I wasn't going to have him put through that.

The Vets never admitted liability, but it seems very strange to me that their procedures have since changed at the Hospital.

I never knew that animals could become infected with MRSA so I hope that this story and the other stories on your website help others to realise that their beloved pets can be in great danger of infection when undergoing "routine" operations so that the pain that Dowie suffered and the subsequent loss that I suffered won't be felt by others.

Jane Bostock