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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

When you think you've seen the worst...

 The writing and photos are lifted from a NorCal Collie Rescue Facebook posting earlier today. 
This is the group behind the dogs I foster.

NorCal Collie Rescue Many of our long-time friends remember Brook, our 7 month old puppy that came in March of 2011 with Generalized Demodectic Mange. After many months of treatment with Interceptor, Brook finally had a clear scrapping and was deemed cured after 11 months of care in February of 2012. Brook is happy and healthy today because of donations of Interceptor and funds provided by all of you.
Now our nightmare has tripled…..over the last two weeks we have brought in THREE 4 month old puppies with Demodectic Mange – all with MUTANT MDR1 genes. Therefore, Ivermectin can’t be used for treatment and Interceptor is off the market. One the puppies came in last night, septic with a temperature of 104.5. We are trying to stabilize her as I write this. The other two puppies are stable and on antibiotics to treat the secondary infections while we search for the best course of treatment for these 3 sweet, innocent little puppies.
Can you help? Yes you can! Cash donations are always helpful but medicine is what we are in desperate need of right now. Do you or anyone you know have a supply of Interceptor you would be willing to donate to help these puppies? We have collected about a 1 month supply for 1 puppy. We need at least a 6 week supply for all 3 puppies. If you can help, please let us know and mail your extra Interceptor to NorCal Collie Rescue, PMB #517, 270 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065

Beautiful Brook
The end result of  a lot of caring. 
She is our Gold Standard of what we hope to accomplish for these puppies.
To achieve this, we need to come up with 300 doses of Interceptor, which they will be taking daily.
 

20 comments:

  1. Wow. Tough situation. I don't know anybody, but I'll ask.

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    1. Kerry, thank you. If someone can't afford to donate, we can buy the meds. They are just nowhere to be found. Brook had a donation from a pharmaceutical rep who polled her drug company for every last one.

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  2. It's a miracle what you've done with this lovely dog. Heaven points!

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    1. Stephen, so many people helped with Brook. The University Vet School donated a ton of care. It took almost a year to get her from the hairless, sad creature who had been turfed out to wander in a rain storm, to this lovely (but naughty) princess.
      We hope to pull all three puppies through. One is touch and go right now. Fingers crossed.

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  3. Just posted a plea for drugs on NWDogActivities Yahoo group, which has about 1800 members.

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  4. Oh, that is sad. I don't know anything about this but please keep us posted.

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    1. Birdie, I'll keep updating on their status as we go forward. There is a Mama Dog we are trying to get relinquished too. No luck so far.

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  5. I am sending the link to this post to our pets' veterinarians. Fingers crossed. Those poor, poor little pups......surely your alert will help to save them.

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    1. Lydia, thank you, that's exactly what we need. Some vet clinics might be willing to give/sell the product to us as the makers are no longer supporting Interceptor in the US. Usually a vet requires an office visit and we need a prescription to get the drugs. We can supply paperwork from our vet, as needed.

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  6. Oh my. What a terrible situation. Sorry I can't help with what you need but I can at least send my positive vibes to the pups and to you too - for all the work you are doing for these babies. Brook really is the poster child for all the hard work and what can be achieved if you try.
    Hope the septic pup comes out of the danger zone. I'm fostering 3 pups now too, well I was - lost one last weekend to peritonitis, but the other two are doing great.

    Best wishes from here!

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    1. Joanna, so sorry you lost a pup. Sometimes all you can do is try your hardest, and it is not enough. Frankie had labored breathing and fever yesterday. One vet wanted to put her to sleep, the other put her on IV antibiotics and fluids, to give her a chance. She seems to be coming back to us. She would not have lasted another day where she was. (Close to your neck of the woods BTW)

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  7. In addition to treating the mange, the other tactic you should pursue simultaneously is to boost their immune system!

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  8. Good news your vet can talk to Novartis and they will discuss off label use of their sister product Sentinel, which is back in production. So I would suggest calling you vet and let them know, the biggest issue will be cost, but I heard that the price of Sentinel has been lowered.

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    1. Anonymous, Toni said the same thing. The dose of flea prevention in Sentinel would be too high, in this daily treatment. We are going to have to solve this once an for all before we get this problem again. For now, we're getting quite a few donations of Interceptor.

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  9. I shared the post and am being told that Sentinel is your best bet, same product but "It's exactly the same thing just with an IGR in it. Flea birth control . Made by the same company that discontinued Interceptor. The price of Sentinel has also been lowered so it costs the same as Interceptor did!"

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    1. Toni, unfortunately, the doses being daily, rather than monthly, the flea product in Sentinel overdoses. We're investigating several angles and have vets advising. Enough donated meds have come in to start everyone on treatment. More promised. If you go to NorCal Collie Rescue Facebook page, there's quite an exchange of information, updates and outreach.

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    2. Toni, If you follow the facebook feed, you will see that we checked with veterinary toxicologists who agree that Sentinel can be used. We needed to be sure. We want to use Interceptor as long as we can, to minimize the risk as the pups are young. Then we'll switch, if we have to. Poor Frankie is not strong enough to take anything yet. She's the worst, as the owner kept her longer than the others. Thank you for your input

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