I live in a small town in Northwest Ontario call Nestor Falls. In this small town of 400 people, I believe at least 15 dogs have died of Blasto (within a 10 mile radius) and probably many more that were not diagnosed correctly. Fortunately we have quite a few survivors also. Quite a few people in the surrounding areas have blasto also.
I have 2 beautiful Australian Shepherds, Duke (2 years) and Bailey (3 years). In the winter of 2007, we noticed a slight decline in Duke's energy and I heard him cough only twice, but he felt just a bit warm to me. I called the vet. The vets in this area are VERY knowledgeable about blasto because it is so prevalent to this area. The vet got me in immediately!
The vet took an X-ray and told me that Duke had over a hundred abscesses on his lungs and then took an aspiration. The microscope immediately confirmed his suspicions. It was Blasto!
I was devastated!!! He gave Duke a 50/50 chance of survival. He said 2 of the abscess were so large that if they were to burst, it could kill Duke within minutes.
Later that week, I brought Bailey in for a chest X-ray and she had it too. Bailey's was a mild form and very treatable, but our neighbor dog that used to hang around our dogs did die that same week!
We got Duke on Sporanox right away. Poor Duke.. He got way worse before he got better! He could barely walk! 3 of his legs were totally useless and we carried him outside. I think the only thing that saved him during this awful time is that he has a VERY high food drive and I fed him anything he would eat... scrambled eggs, hot dogs, chicken, salami.. What ever he would eat, he got.
It took about 3 weeks for him to gradually be able to walk and have some energy! Well, my Duke is a fighter!!! He made it back!
About 8 months later, we were at our other house in British Columbia (Canada), my son noticed a large lump on Duke's abdomen! We took him into the vet there right away and mentioned that he had Blasto a while back! They do not have blast in BC, so they did not know what they were looking for. In the mean time this abscess on his abdomen was getting bigger and bigger. Duke was in a huge amount of pain and it was horrible to see him hurting so much.
The BC vet said they would send the lab work in, but it might take a week to come back!! I said he could be dead by then! They said that they were sorry , but since they didn't have blasto in the area, they didn't know what they were looking for and so we waited...
In the mean time, they did a cat scan a decide that it was all contained to one area (the abdomen). They finally confirmed the results, Blasto again! They had him on Sporanox immediately again!!!
Two days later, the abscess broke open and started leaking. I called the vet and she said to bring him in immediately and did I have any children or elderly people there. My grandchildren were visiting for the week and had been crawling were Duke might of leaked Blasto on the floor.
It was all such a nightmare! Even though Blasto is not contagious, nobody could confirm that it could not be transferred from bodily liquid.
My grand-daughter had a cut on her foot and Duke had burst open! I didn't realize and the vet didn't tell me that it could actually burst.
After the vet carefully wrap his wound, Duke was quarantined away from the children (but still near the people who loved him), we were given surgical soap and bandages. We wore gloves and washed and wrapped his wound every day! Duke was a trooper through the whole thing. My Duke has the most amazing personality!!!
Dukes abscess gradually went down and now Bailey and Duke are back to their energetic, fun loving selves!! I just pray they never get blasto again! There is life after blasto!!
Just another note... The vets here are just amazingly knowledgeable about blasto in this area!!!!
Cathy, Bailey and Duke
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Topic: Duke and Bailey's Blasto story (Read 1298 times)