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Emma, our high spirited and beautiful 15 month old White German Shepherd girl got hit by a car after getting away from my husband on Friday 11th July, 2008. Initially, we thought she’d been lucky and the damage wasn’t too bad; she just seemed badly shaken and was holding her paw up, but we immediately rushed her to our vet’s for fear of internal damage.
Our vet kept her in for xrays and observation. A few hours later, they phoned to let us know that, internally she was fine, however, her right paw was a mess: all of her metatarsal bones were broken, save one, which was dislocated and she had extensive soft tissue damage. We had two choices: amputation (they said they couldn't splint the bones because of the horrendous damage and the fact that they are weight-bearing) or referral to a top midlands orthopedic surgery. Foolishly, we aren't insured. They said treatment could amount to thousands of pounds, but although we have very little spare money, we love our animals, and so, for us, there was only ever one choice.
Surgery: Emma had 3 plates and 15 pins inserted into her paw. They wanted the bandage to remain on and dry until at least the following Friday. Unfortunately, even though almost the whole leg was bandaged, they had left the tip of Emma’s damaged paw poking out, and so, due to the paw weeping heavily; the bandage did get damp through no fault of her own. It was weeping so profusely it soaked her bedding, and consequently, her bandage too. The vet said it was because Emma had been biting her paw, but how could they have allowed her to?.
Post surgery the vets visited every day but made no comment, except to say that with the extensive soft tissue damage they could make no promises as to Em's fully recovering the use of her paw. Subsequently, we attended our vet's every two or three days for dressing changes. After a while she could weight bear but when the dressing came off the surgeon was clearly concerned and took a swab for analysis.
The wound was not healing. The results came back as MRSA. I was distraught, all I could think was that I had to ring our vet and ask him to explain everything to me in layman's terms as soon as I got home from work; which he did. Months went by and despite numerous set-backs and trying several different types of antibiotic to find the best one to fight the particular strain of MRSA affecting Emma.
Now, Emma does have an almost imperceptible lameness, but apart from that, she still has her paw, and runs around like the road-runner (but with a lot more control from us!) She had her culture test early January 2009 and proved negative as a sufferer or carrier of the MRSA and is attending regular hydrotherapy to try and get her to use her poorly paw fully again. (She was in bandages so long; I think she forgot she could!)
My husband and I would like to say an enormous ‘THANK YOU’ to Jill Moss for all her help, invaluable guidance, advice, reassurance, encouragement and backing;
Jill does an extraordinary job; she and her foundation help the ‘powerless’ victims of the terrible MRSA bug and empowers them with her boundless energy, understanding, sympathy and knowledge. To think that this amazing organization was borne from sorrow and the awful, unnecessary tragedy of the loss of the beautiful Bella is nothing short of a miracle. Others might have just cried and ‘licked their wounds’ but not Jill. How many people knew that animals could contract MRSA? I certainly didn’t. Jill has shone a powerful spotlight on this and brought it to the public awareness; the foundation helps so many in so many countless ways: victim support, owner support and morale, liaising with professionals in order to bring about more effective ‘battle strategies’ against the bug. She is a true inspiration. Crufts 2009 Emma was the star of the Bella Moss Foundation stand and showed everyone how animals can survive MRSA.
June & Tony Walker (Kingswinford UK)
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We adopted Bear, a five year old Shih Tzu in March of 2006. In January 2008 I felt what seemed to be a cyst below his shoulder, and the vet felt it was an oil gland cyst and advised warm compresses. After several weeks we felt it should be removed, and he had his teeth cleaned at the same time. The surgery, done in February, was more extensive than expected, as the cyst turned out to be deep, but after getting over severe post-op pain, Bear was doing fine. In April we noticed another cyst, small, along the suture line. Within a short time the cyst began to drain so the vet cultured it and found MRSA. In 30 years of practice he had never seen MRSA. The lab that did the culture recommended the treatment chloramphenicol. Bear managed this for about six days, but his tummy could not take the medicine. There were small "lump’s along the suture line but they seemed not to be causing a problem. He seemed fine, but during the summer he began to have intermittent pain for no apparent reason...he would just cry out, and go on his way. This continued on and off so we went to a vet who was skilled in more holistic treatments, and she did acupuncture along his spine, which helped the pain for maybe a day.
We did not go back to this vet as she seemed not to have helped. We took Bear back to the original vet. Bear did well in the clinic, but every time I visited him he cried the whole time. It broke my heart, but I could not stand not to see him nearly every day. When we brought him home, we continued on this regimen of antibiotics for another three weeks. But about a month later the small lumps were back along the suture line, and the vet prescribed more of the SMP-TMZ liquid medicine. Several days after this Bear started crying out in pain on and off again, as he did back in the summer. This time 21 days of the same med did nothing for him. The pain did seem to lessen.
I searched the internet for information and found the Bella Moss Foundation and emailed Jill. She was so helpful, and bless her heart, called me from England. She offered to send our vet the research information she had, and even to talk with him, but when I wrote him regarding this, he did not reply. He had by now told me he saw no reason to put Bear back in the clinic that basically his immune system was apparently not strong enough to throw off the infection.
Cross infection human to animal concerns
Jill helped me with my concerns about cross infection and the fear I had for our 5 yr. old great-grandchild, who is here a lot, and who loved to pet Bear. Bear had begun to have less of an appetite and was very poorly. We consulted the vet and had to make the decision to end his suffering and let him go as the antibiotics were not working and he was becoming weaker by the day.
We felt all along that Bear contracted MRSA at that clinic at the time of his surgery. The vets were unaware of MRSA in dogs, did no biopsy the first cyst, or culture the suspected infected sites. Our hearts are broken; our home is so empty without our little Bear. I wish I might have discovered Jill and her charity sooner, and found a vet who might have wanted the help of the Foundation’s MRSA expert veterinarians.
To all of you whose animals have recovered, I rejoice with you, and to those of you who have lost your beloved pet, I offer my deepest empathy.
Fritzie Maddock (Columbia, SC USA)
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I have had dogs my entire life, and have loved each of them for their quirks and personality, companionship and friendship. However, my current dog Tipper is "that" dog. My first dog since moving out on my own, the first I train, feed and care for. Ask anyone; he is a ham, loves to show off, and is a joy to be around. He is one of those dogs that loves all people, all dogs, and most creatures (he isn’t a huge fan of squirrels).
So when Tipper's nose seemed to be a little dry and cracked I took him to the vet, to find out what was going on. That appointment in May of 08 was the first of so many, and it seemed that few people had answers. It could be staph, it could be lupus, it could be a compromised immune system, and it could be MRSA. His nose was getting worse, but he still seemed to be holding his own. We were going through rounds of antibiotics and prednisone. Then it got worse, a lot worse. While on antibiotics, his neck and chest broke out with a huge staff infection while I was out of town. My brother had taken him to his vet, who prescribed more antibiotics and more prednisone. Tipper was getting tired and didn’t want to go out as much. I was scared. Then the skin on his muzzle got infected and a huge sore grew there. In addition to the vet, I also turned to the internet and searched for information on staph, MRSA, nutrition, etc etc. I found a comment on a forum from Jill Moss, she listed her email and phone. Who does that in this day and age? I sent her an email and within hours I had a response. She put me in contact with Kim Bloomer a homeopathic vet and sent me huge amounts of information on what I could do for Tipper. She even called my vet (we are in the US) and discussed the issue with him. Tipper has since had MRSA ruled out and has been diagnosed with mucocutaneos pyoderma and it is currently in remission. He will continue on a staph vaccination and I will continue to work with him on a homeopathic level.
I can’t say enough about the support, information and help that I have gotten from Jill and the Bella Moss Foundation. They have educated me, listened to me, and helped me get through what is going to be a chronic illness with my dog. When I was freaking out and cleaning my house twice a day to "kill the staph" Jill and her friends talked me down. When I didn’t know what to do for the infection they recommended Manuka honey (which is the most amazing stuff I have ever seen). And when MRSA was ruled out, they celebrated with me. Tipper and I can not thank them enough for their kindness and help.
Leslie and Tipper San Francisco USA
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