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RINGO
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Border Collies In Need is requesting donations in offsetting a large veterinary bill for Ringo who had a serious case of Flea Allergy Dermatitis (FAD).
Ringo is a gorgeous young male Border Collie who came to our attention through a group of rescuers and volunteers from the Fresno area in early January of 2010. Only in the shelter a short time, he had quickly become a shelter favorite and they were wondering if we would be willing to take him in if they transported him to us, as he was not doing too well being confined to a small space. Sadly, the shelter was not able to hold dogs very long before euthanization. It only took us as long to answer YES as it took us to type the letters on the keyboard. | |
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Although thin, Ringo had been coming along nicely in our rescue program. Since Ringo has a bit of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), it has been difficult to get him to gain weight, as he runs nervously around the yard (although he is amazingly happy when called and inside the house, and is quiet as a mouse and as relaxed as they come). |
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One day Ringo developed what seemed to be a run of the mill itch. In a matter of hours, Ringo went from a happy content dog to Mr. Itchy Pants. As many dogs do, he started to chew on his back to ease the itching. In just a few days, his condition went from normal to a dog in serious crisis. As you can see from the third photo, he was biting and pulling out his fur at a shocking rate...at this pace, he would definitely would have been bald by the weekend!
Leading up to this situation, Ringo had no visible fleas on his body, although we did immediately apply Frontline Plus as soon as he let us know that his back started itching. When the chewing escalated to a point where his hair was coming out in huge chunks, we sprayed him, we coned him, we even kept him close to our side. But during the day he was able to break his cone and resumed chewing to a shocking level. When we got home from work the second night, we were shocked to see how much damage he had done. We suspected flea dermatitis, but were alarmed at how quickly and easily his hair came out and in such big patches. We've seen other dogs chew like this, but it was apparent his lack of nutrition while living on the streets was more than likely a contributing factor in how easily his hair came off. We decided to wrap him up and take him straight to the vet in the morning. |
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By the next morning his bald patch went from practically bleeding to oozing with infection. His foster mom saw how quickly things can spiral out of control. When we got him to the vet and removed the protective wrap, not only could we see how infected he had become, but his temperature had shot up to 104.5 within a matter of hours! Due to the fact that this dog had been a street dog for so long and the alarming state of his body, we decided we needed to give him the best care possible and soon! So we ran a full blood panel, ran about 5 or 6 other tests on him (fecal, skin scraping, hair fungus analysis, etc.), gave him a shot of cortisone, started a full 4 weeks course of antibiotics, and immediately gave him Comfortis, a monthly pill for flea control.
We are happy to report that at the moment, Ringo seems to be well on the road to recovery and is doing quite well. The cortisone shot provided immediate relief and the itching went from 90 mph to about 5 mph in a matter of minutes. His blood work revealed that other than being a bit anemic and his thyroid a little low, the vet said he is quite healthy. Yeah!
BCIN is a federally recognized 501c3 non profit charity, and as such, all donations are tax deductible. BCIN is comprised of an unpaid volunteer staff, therefore, all donations are 100% spent for the benefit of the border collies in our rescue program. If you would like to help Ringo, you can donate on-line via our Best Friends website found by clicking here or please send your donation to:
Border Collies In Need
Attn: Ringo's Medical
PO Box 293084
Phelan, CA 92329-3084
Thank you.
Keep checking our website for updates on Ringo's progress.
To learn more about Flea Allergy Dermatitis - Please see the following website at www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/71600.htm
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