30/05/2024
LONG POST ALERT!
Apologies for the extremely long post (and graphic nature of some of the photos)but I know a lot of you know about, follow and love the work of Barna Kutya The Assistance Dog so would want to know about him.
Not sure where to start, ok I'll go with so far this has a happy ending!!!
The last week has been one of the most stressful and upsetting periods of our lives.
For anyone who doesn't know him Barna Kutya it's not only our pet Viz but also my medical alert assistance dog (to save explanations I've put the link to a Netflix program that covered him https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eXxrKWtMhA)
This makes him not only special as a pet, but without exaggerating he's an actual life saver!!
Starting around a week ago he became very lethargic and had lots of bumps appear almost overnight. We took him to the vets and both us and the vets suspected some form of allergy or reaction. He was given painkillers and antihistamines and sent away to see how he got on.
After another 4 days and no improvement he went back and had blood tests to try to get to the bottom of things, these all came back as clear. At this point he was also not able or wanting to eat dentastix (unheard of!) and struggling to do the Viz nose to tail shake.
Another 5 days with no improvement but not getting any worse, he all of a sudden took a drastic turn for the worse. Obviously in lots of pain, whining and being unable to get at all comfortable we took him to the emergency out of hours vets.
Only when at the vets and being examined did the vet first notice that one of his lumps had become a lesion and his fur and skin literally fell off where the lump had been in her hands!
He was referred and admitted to a local specialist animal hospital at Pride in Derby and put on IV drip, antibiotics and pain killers.
The next 24/48 hours were both horrific and extremely alarming. Even the vets said they hadn't seen a dog go downhill as fast or his condition changed so much. Basically, all his lumps started to fall off and left him with open wounds all over him, along with his joints swelling.
He now had a CT scan, joint taps taken and skin samples to be analysed.
At this point his prognosis was extremely grim and both us and his medical team genuinely thought we were going to lose him, we even had a vet on standby to come out to our house so he could go in comfort and his own surroundings should the worst happen😥
Incredibly next day his results came back clear of any cancers or flesh eating bacteria that were suspected due to how aggressive his decline had been, and more importantly he seemed to be showing signs of improvement thanks to the drugs and now steroids he was being given.
He's been diagnosed with IMPA which is a type of auto-immune disease, this had set his immune system into crazy overdrive which had caused vasculitis, a condition in which the immune system attacks the blood vessels of the skin, causing them to die and the skin become necrotic. Basically all of this has come down to a very angry auto-immune condition, but luckily this should be treatable.
Now 4 days later he's really improved to the point that he's been allowed home, all be it looking very worse for wear due to being shaved and the wounds.
As I said at the start, one of the most stressful weeks ever and if any of you have shares in Kleenex I'm sure you'll have seen your stocks rising 😂
He is now home for some much needed rest, we have a way to go for getting his immune system to calm down and he may get a little worse before better, but ultimately my best friend is still with us and that's more than we could have hoped for 🙏
Will keep you all updated on his progress.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/onemissiononelifesavingnose
https://www.instagram.com/barnakutya/
https://www.facebook.com/barnakutyatheassistancedog/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eXxrKWtMhA
