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My son’s 7- month old Weimaraner, McRae, went in for surgery to repair two bone fractures following an accident. In the end, she contracted MRSA from the surgical facility. I can honestly say that there were to only two thing that saved her life: My ignorance of MRSA and the surgeon telling me that we would “wait and see if it cleared on its own.” Because I was in the dark about medication resistant staph, I reached out for help and fell into the net of support and knowledge provided by the Moss Foundation. Because the surgeon suggested that it might clear up on its own without intervention, I got angry. This new knowledge about he superbug and my anger led me self-empowerment, knowing that if my son’s dog was going to make it, I was essentially going to have to make some tough choices and quick decisions. After the conversations with a compounder to learn more about the two antibiotics that the culture indicated would kill the infection, I learned that McRae might not survive the cure. So my only option was a regime of nontraditional treatment. The Bella Moss provided me with so many ideas. Human doctors provided me with theories that reinforced the Foundation’s information. With my regime set up and highly flexible, I set to work and the abscess cleared and healed within a matter of two weeks. Following radiograms and a 3-month period of time to see if new abscesses developed, McRae has been given the “all clear” by my local vet who respects alternative cures. She is now back at home with my son who continues to give her natural supplements to support her immune system. In everything I did with McRae, I was supported by the Foundation and they continued to live into what became my mantra in reference to MRSA: “Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus is drug resistant but not herb (or other nontraditional treatment) resistant.” McRae is alive today because I was forced to step outside of the pharmaceutical box. Thank you Jill and your MRSA counselors for helping me on my journey. It was frightening to take “the road less traveled” but I knew that I was never alone. I also must thank my son, Wit, for trusting and supporting me through this horrible phase in his and McRae’s lives.
Susan Aiken Morris and McRae, Camden, SC USA
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Our beautiful Golden Retriever, Corky T. (for trouble and terrific) Miles
suffered with allergies for most of his life. Although he took many pills
everyday to manage these allergies along with biweekly injections, he never
complained. Even when it was discovered he had cancer and had to undergo
chemo, he continued to be sweet and wonderful. He was your typical Golden,
sweet and loving. He loved his swimming pool and stuffed toys, which he was
always willing to share with
us. We loved him dearly and were rewarded tenfold by his love.
This past January, he suffered a spontaneous pnemothorax. We rushed him to
the emergency vet and they immediately put a tube in him to get the air out
of his body cavity. Thanks to their quick thinking, it appeared that Corky
was going to survive. After consulting several vets, including his
oncologist and regular vet, it was decided to do surgery to remove the bula
on his lung. The surgery went well, and after 3 days recovery, he returned
home to us. At first he seemed to be on the road to recovery, but after a
few days, he developed a fever and would not eat or drink. One of his vets
even made a trip to our home to treat him, giving him fluids and increasing
some of his pain killers. Again, he seemed to be getting better, only to
have a repeated episode of fevers. When we took him to have his stitches
removed, he seemed a little better, but when we mentioned to the surgeon
that he just wasn't eating, he didn't seem too concerned and said he would
probably start eating better once he felt better. After all he wasn't doing
anything but lying around. Three days after that we finally took him to his
regular vet who decided to keep him at his clinic each day, giving him
fluids and antibiotics. This went on for a few days, and on the third day,
an abscess that had been hiding behind a fatty tumor on his right rear leg
exploded.
The vet removed 2 cups of blood and other fluids along with discovering
dying skin. He had this huge hole in him, big enough to stick your whole
thumb into and he was unable to walk. We took him home and cared for him
and returned the next day to the vet. Unfortunately, he was open for only
half a day and it was suggested we return to the emergency vet so they could
keep an eye on him. The emergency clinic again consulted with all our vets
and we ended up taking Corky back to where he had had the surgery to consult
with the surgeon and an oncologist. X rays were taken and finally an ultra
sound was done. Corky had multiple nodules on many or his organs along with
fluid in his lungs and around his heart. They felt for sure they would need
to remove at least his spleen and maybe his leg. None of the doctors felt
he could survive and after many tears, we decided to euthanize him; to stop
what was now suffering.
As anyone reading this knows, this is so very difficult to do but we loved
him so and could not allow him to suffer any more. Three days later, we
received the results from the lab report telling us that Corky had MRSA. Of
course it was too late to do anything for him.
Our vet said he had never had a case of MRSA in his clinic. The other vets
we had seen were unaware of MRSA. The symptoms were all there but went
undetected by vets. There is no way to know if Corky got MRSA during the
surgery or while recovering in their clinic. He also could have had it all
along on some of the sores he had on his groin as a result of his allergies.
After Corky died, we were looking up MRSA on the internet and came across
the Bella Moss Foundation. Through continuing professional development
seminars for vets and nurses the Bella Moss Foundation has had a positive
impact on what vets in Britain know about MRSA. Jill Moss is truly an
inspiration. Hopefully, we can help the Foundation do something here in the
US to have the same impact on our vets. I intend to do what I can to spread
the knowledge about MRSA to vets and other doctors here. I welcome any
help. There is much to do. It is our hope that our Corky, just as Bella,
can help other animals avoid their fate and live long, happy lives.
Milt and Sue Miles Scottsdale, Arizona USA
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Our 42-year-old daughter has had four rounds of chemotherapy in the past year and a half for a red blood cell disorder and she faces a future with more such treatments likely periodically. In May of last year, her three-year-old dog, Dixon, needed surgery on his hind leg for a torn ACL. Our daughter and Dixon live in the middle of a very large city, which would make recovery from such an operation difficult. We live in a place where he can go outside to a nice lawn by just walking out the front door, rather than having to make his way there from a 4th story apartment inside a city apartment building--and having nothing but sidewalks available once he got there.
We agreed to have him come and have his operation here and live with us for an extended period of time while he recuperated. We expected to return him to our daughter sometime last August. However, during July, the operation site became infected, and the infection continued to just hang on throughout the next couple of months, despite his being treated with several rounds of antibiotics. We continued to keep Dixon with us, not wanting to return a sick dog to our daughter. Then, in mid-September, a new veterinarian saw Dixon, and right away she said we should have her remove the sutures from the original operation and culture the infection site; that there was some possibility that it would be MRSA. The culture came back positive for MRSA, but fortunately it was a type that was shown to respond well to clindamyacin, which he took for 30 days. Dixon seemed to have gotten rid of the infection, but we had by then read a lot of material about the seriousness of MRSA and the possibility that dogs and people could be MRSA carriers without having symptoms of the disease themselves.
Although our new vet had enough knowledge about MRSA to know to test for it, she, nor the large veterinarian clinic where she is employed, were able to advise us as to whether or not Dixon was now completely MRSA-free and whether or not it would be safe to return him to our daughter, whose immune system has been compromised by chemotherapy. We looked on the internet and found many sites that told us how necessary it was to practice cleanliness, etc., to prevent the spread of MRSA, but we just couldn't seem to find out whether anyone thought it was advisable for Dixon to rejoin his mistress. In the meantime, the ACL on Dixon's other leg became torn, and we were referred to a specialist in a near-by city for an evaluation. We told the specialist about Dixon's recent recovery from MRSA, and she told us that they would see Dixon, but only by keeping him completely isolated from all the other animals there. When we got there, three staff members who were all suited up in protective clothing, gloves and masks came to evaluate him, outside the back door. We did discuss MRSA with this specialist, as well as Dixon's need for a second ACL operation. This specialist also was unable to tell us if there was any way to find out if Dixon was really cured from the MRSA and safe to be with our daughter. After that experience and all the reading we had done, we were pretty frightened into deciding that this dog did not belong with our daughter. We then contemplated the dismal alternatives, since we were unable to keep Dixon ourselves for a period of several years. We wondered if it would be possible to find a new owner willing to take him on, but somehow, that didn't seem to be a very promising prospect, since he now has had MRSA and two bad rear legs.
Finally, in a follow-up phone conversation with the specialist we had seen, she mentioned that another of her customers had come in with a "MRSA dog" that week, and they told her about the Bella Moss Foundation. I visited the web site and was truly impressed with the information and credentials I found there. It was with great excitement that I wrote an e-mail requesting information about whether it would be safe to return Dixon to his owner, and it was with even greater excitement that I read Jill's almost immediate response, telling me that if his wound was indeed well-healed and if swabs taken from his nostril and anus tested to rule out his being a carrier, that we could consider it safe for our daughter to have her dog back. This was the first and only resource that we had found where someone seemed to know the answers to our questions.
Then, when we went to our local vet to get the cultures done, she was uncertain about exactly how to conduct the test (should there be separate cultures from the two areas, or just one swab from the two areas combined?). Once again, I wrote back to Jill, and she then gave us the names of some vets in the United States that would be willing to consult with my vet. What a wonderful resource!! My local vet did call and get advice from one of the references, and was able to proceed with the testing, which came back negative. Based on all the good and reliable information we got from Bella Moss Foundation, we then felt confident in our decision to have the second torn ACL repaired, still keeping Dixon with us during a second extended recuperation period. Now it has been seven weeks since his surgery, and he has no sign of any infection and is healing well. We will take him back to his rightful owner this weekend, feeling confident that we are doing the right thing for both our daughter and Dixon. Thank you Jill so much for providing us and our vets with the information we needed to make a sensible, well-informed decision about this matter.
Sue Baur (USA)
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