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Please note that BMF does not recommend any products or treatment mentioned
by pet owners in their testimonials.
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Live testimonials can be downloaded from Dogcastradio
http://www.dogcastradio.com/episode58.php
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Rupert |
Rupert - 30 December 1996 - 11 December 2004
Rupert came to live with us at just over 7 weeks old, a bundle of woolly fur weighing over a stone with huge paws. We planned to call him Darcy as we had recently seen the tv adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. However, he so resembled a bear cub that he could have no other name but Rupert.
Despite my best efforts to remain a little detached he very soon became the centre of my world around which everything else had to revolve. His needs were first and foremost in my mind and I loved him with all my heart.
Rupert grew so quickly, at one stage he seemed to be all legs! And then in the blink of an eye he became a very majestic boy indeed, with long silky fur and a magnificent tail. His beautiful deep amber eyes a window to his kind and gentle soul.
He had a few ups and downs with his health but I devoted all my efforts to making him well again. He was a strong boy with a fighting spirit and always bounced back.
Then tragedy struck, I found a small lump (which turned out to be a cyst) on his foot and took him to the vet for it to be removed. I know he was very large boy, big even for a Bernese, but she operated on him on the floor of a consulting room.
Within days of the op he began to tug off the fur from the inside of his legs and his tummy and he clearly had a temperature. Rupert was given the usual broad spectrum antibiotics, first one course, then another and another until I demanded that the cause of the infection be found. Skin samples were taken and from these a diagnosis of MRSA and Pseudomonas was given. My heart sank but we persevered with the antibiotics recommended by The Animal Health Trust, special shampoo and a cream.
We thought he had beaten both as Rupert seemed to improve but sadly it wasn't to be. The damage had been done, the battle was lost and Rupert could carry on no more. His brave heart gave out and he died in my arms - my darling boy gone forever.
Rupert holds a special place in my heart which will never be filled by anyone else. So while I live, he lives. And maybe, if I'm very lucky and God hears my prayers, we will be together again my little man and I.
Through an article in a newspaper I found Jill and the Bella Moss Foundation. Jill and I have found many similarities between Bella and Rupert and we share an overwhelming sense of loss. I hope that in some way I will be able to help Jill with her campaign to ensure the fact that animals can be infected with MRSA is acknowledged by the veterinary profession.
Also to see that measures are put in place to improve the standard of hygiene within practices, particularly when vets are undertaking surgical procedures.
Now that truly would be a legacy worthy of my beloved Rupert.
Cheryl Burston (Coventry)
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Malcolm |
This is Malcolm. He is the most wonderful, affectionate, loving, special cat I have ever come across. I rescued him from the RSPCA 6 years ago when he was 3 years old and had been neglected in a house with 20 other cats. I knew straight away that Malcolm was special and we developed a very special bond very quickly.
In March 2006, Malcolm had a swelling in his left ear and I noticed him scratching his ear a lot and shaking his head. I took him to the vets who advised that Malcolm had a haematoma (burst blood vessel) from shaking his head and that something may be stuck in his ear or there was an infection causing his ear to become irritated.
2 days later, Malcolm underwent an operation to remove the haematoma and the vets confirmed they couldn't detect what had caused the haematoma but that he was on his way to recovery. However, Malcolm's ear swelled up again and again and didn't seem to get any better. After numerous visits to the vets where they drained his ear each time, they then advised that Malcolm would need to undergo a 2nd procedure, as the 1st operation had not gone as planned.
Malcolm underwent the 2nd procedure and it was then that the vets confirmed that there was an ear infection and that they would need to do a swab to determine what infection it was. By this time, Malcolm was not his usual happy self and was very withdrawn and quiet. Whilst waiting for the test results, Malcolm's ear swelled up again and again and the vets gave him steroid injections to help reduce the swelling.
1 wk later and the results came back and I was told Malcolm had MRSA. The vets said it was treatable with antibiotics and asked whether myself or my partner had been in contact with hospitals in the last 6 mths. When we replied that we hadn't, the vets said that it was likely that Malcolm had picked up MRSA from their practice.
Thinking nothing more of this, we took Malcolm home and started his course of antirobe antibiotics. I was so worried and upset and just wanted Malcolm to be better. At this stage, he had been ill for 8 weeks and not been his usual self.
I am pleased to report that Malcolm is now fully recovered and his ear is back to normal. However, I can't forget all of the worry and upset that the whole episode caused, as well as knowing what Malcolm had to go through.
The vets themselves, offered no explanations or any sympathy and were very defensive when I probed them about the possibility that MRSA could have been passed to Malcolm by one of their staff during his 1st procedure. The staff have now all been swabbed by the RCVS and I await to hear the outcome.
I came across the Bella Moss Foundation when I was searching on the internet for information about MRSA in animals. There were no other sources of information whatsoever (especially about MRSA in cats) and the website was so useful and helped me to understand what MRSA was and how it could impact our pets. It was so comforting to know that there were others who understood how I felt and it gave me hope that Malcolm would get better from reading the other testimonials and information on the site.
Lou Yau
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Jessie |
Our dog Jessie contracted MRSA on April 15th after going in for a routine spaying operation. The vet said everything had gone well and she should be back to her usual active self the next day. The following day she was really ill, wouldn’t eat, drink, being sick, shivering and generally lethargic - this didn’t change for a week. I contacted the vet who told me she was probably depressed as they realised she had milk in her teats before they operated so was probably in the middle of a phantom pregnancy! Over the following week we called the vet out almost everyday, we went from a reaction to internal stitches, a urine infection, to an infection where her ovaries were removed. Her wound was weeping and she was now passing a bloody discharge. Eventually they took a swab on Sunday 24th April and it was confirmed on the 29th that she had in fact contracted MRSA. We were utterly shocked, all I could think of that we were going to lose her, I didn’t have any knowledge on MRSA in humans let alone dogs. Our vet put the onus on us as being colonised with MRSA (1 in 3 people carry it harmlessly) he felt that I must have passed it onto her coat then she took it in to the operating theatre, where it placed itself inside the open wound. The probability of this is very slim compared with the probability of one of the staff who was in the operating room at the time passing it to her. We have since changed vets and have all been screened and are all negative. It's easy for the vet to blame you and with no understanding of MRSA it's easy to believe them and feel to blame. Luckily for us we came across The Bella Moss Foundation and pets-mrsa.com Jill has been a god send, herself and Mark have spent hours on the phone advising us all we need to know about MRSA and putting us in touch with experts within the field and other owners over the country whose dog’s have or had MRSA. When I was in panic mode Jill calmed me down and helped me straighten things out in my head. Our vet tried to warn us against looking on the Internet - I wonder why?
Thankfully Jess has made a full recovery and is even more hyper than she was before!
Thank you Trustees of the Bella Moss Foundation, Jill Moss and Mark Dosher if you ever need the favour returned you know where we are x
Katrina Beckett (Norfolk)
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Xena |
Update October 7th 2006 by Jill Moss - "I am so upset by the fact that after so many months of battling with all the very best care there could be for Xena, she passed away this evening. The Bella Moss Foundation has been very close with Vicky Yates and our hearts go out to her at this difficult time."
Jill, I can never repay you for the help you have given me
So this is a small token of thanks for thee,
An amazing person you are
With strength incomparable by far,
These words I have written
So please sit back and listen.
Xena is everything, my baby and my life
To watch her suffer and lie in pain hurt like a knife,
We thought the end was near
With no help, desperation and fear,
My heart had sunk and been ripped out
With nowhere to turn I would cry and shout,
Then I found you with light and hope
From the stormy black sky like
A ray of sunshine you helped me cope,
Then new medicine to make her better you helped me to find,
So without you I think you can see my hands would still be bind,
And so the story ends with a smile
Because of you Xena will be around for a long while.
These angels' wings remind of you
As you gave me hope when emptiness was all I knew...
Vikkie view my poem (pdf)
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