(NOTE: Success Stories are written by our adoptive Forever Parents)
Scooter,
a Westie with very severe malassezia dermatitis and demodectic mange, was
initially picked up as a stray and brought to Operation Kindness October 17,
2004. The Intake Coordinator at Operation Kindness called Marvin Katz to see if
he could take Scooter into Westie Rescue, as they did not have sufficient foster
care facilities to treat him. Scooter had lost almost all his hair, his skin was
itching badly, he had eye and ear infections, as well as a very weak immune
system.
We were contacted about Scooter's condition and agreed to foster him. Marvin dropped off Scooter at our home on Wednesday October 19, 2004 and so his story begins. Seeing him for the first time brought tears to our eyes. Scooter was very fragile and very scared. His body had an odor as his skin was thickened, red and inflamed, with open sores and very itchy. We didn't think he would survive the first few days and knew that he'd have a tough road ahead. Scooter was on multiple medications including thyroid, antibiotics, antihistamines, eye ointment, eardrops and ear ointments.
On
October 24, 2004, Scooter was rushed to the Emergency Animal Clinic with acute
onset of nasal drainage congestion and conjunctivitis. Scooter was treated by
Dr. Howard and upon meeting him, Dr. Howard said, "Scooter, you've got some
issues!" Boy, was he ever right!! He placed Scooter on additional
antibiotics and eye ointments and additional follow-ups with his regular vet. At
this time, his bath regimen was 3 times a week with Malaseb shampoo to treat his
Malassezia and to control the itching
On December 27, 2004, Scooter started throwing up his water. A week later continued throwing up his water and food. Multiple visits to the vet and many attempts to stop the vomiting occurred over the next month and a half. Through all this, his weight remained stable. We took him to the Veterinary Specialist of North Texas where a Barium Swallow (an x-ray of the food passageway after drinking a chalky solution) was performed. While the barium swallow was normal the doctor felt the diagnosis was reflux syndrome and placed him on additional medications. Three days later after being on the prescribed anti-reflux medication, Scooter began to have bloody stools. An endoscopy and colonoscopy were performed to examine his esophagus and stomach. The colonoscopy was normal, but the endoscopy revealed severe inflammatory bowel disease.
Inflammatory
bowel disease is a condition in which the stomach and/or intestine is
chronically infiltrated by inflammatory cells. The cause of inflammatory bowel
disease is unknown. Genetics, nutrition, infectious agents, and abnormalities of
the immune system may all play a role.
Normally, the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease involves a combination of change in diet and the use of various medications but because of Scooters immune system, medications were not an option. A food trial using hypoallergenic diets is usually one of the first steps in the initial treatment. Scooter's inflammatory bowel involved all of the small intestine. Multiple diets were tried and Scooter achieved success on rabbit and potato plus Zantac medication twice a day. Food trials take a lot of patience on the part of the foster parent but are well worth it.
Fostering Scooter has been hard work but a tremendous blessing. All the
knowledge we've gained from caring for him has greatly helped with our other
Westie, Bailey, who also has Malassezia. Scooter gets along with foster siblings
Sparky and Bailey (Corgi and Westie) and has learned to trust humans. He has
also made himself quite comfortable in our home and fits i
n
perfectly 
with
the family.
We are happy to report that Scooter is a healthy and happy Westie who currently weighs 24 pounds and has started Westie Weight Watchers!
By: Ruth Koons