Kelsie in the shelter

Kelsie now at 8 years old

Kelsie with foster Mom

Kelsie at her foster home

After getting Kelsie’s x-rays, we got the bad news.  While we found out her hips were fine, our vet at Sudbury Animal Hospital told us he thought Kelsie had Cauda Equina Syndrome.  This happens when something is applying pressure in the spinal column to the complex bundle of nerves that exits at the last lumbar and first sacral vertebrae.  Our hearts sank, as this is what Bonnie had (see Bonnie’s story).  This problem ultimately results in devastating symptoms similar to DM (degenerative myelopathy) but with the added insult of a lot of pain.  We knew that just to confirm the diagnosis would entail a costly MRI and spinal tap.  If confirmed, the likely treatment would be spinal/back surgery.   

Kelsie gets ready to go in for testing

Kelsie with shaved back and neck from her
MRI and spinal tap.

Once again our Board had to face the decision of using precious resources for an expensive diagnostic workup and surgery, especially at a time of year when our resources were very low. It has been an expensive year for us with:

•  Allergy testing and injections, antibiotics and medicated baths for both Darby and Chase

•  Cruciate (knee) surgery for Darby

•  custom-made escape proof crates ($800 apiece) for Roman and Bella who both had severe separation anxiety

•   Several hospitalizations,  testing and medications for Sophie who has seizures

•  Extended boarding with our behaviorist for Bella to learn to deal with her separation anxiety and for Gretchen to learn how to socialize with people and dogs after living her first 6 years tied out or in a kennel. They’re both doing great!

•  Spent more than $3,000 for several hospitalizations and treatment for a rare tick borne disease (Babesia) to save King’s life (see The Inside Story) after he was unprotected while tied to a tree for most of his life to “guard” a drug dealer’s house and produce puppies.

•  Regular costs for spaying and neutering, treating urinary tract infections and skin infections in other dogs, etc.

•  And lastly, we had needed to spend funds for the cost of many supplies (crates, food, leashes, toys, evaluation kits, etc.) to double the number of evaluators and foster homes helping us so we could rescue more dogs this year. 

 We really did not have the money left in our budget to cover another expensive treatment for one of our dogs.  But how could we commit one of our dogs to a life of pain?  Kelsie is the second of our all time nicest dogs to have this horrific problem.  Kelsie is just too wonderful to give up on her…..and she deserves the love and caring that we promised her as a homeless, young dog when we first took her under GSRNE’s wing.

So, as we did with Bonnie, we decided our only choice was to turn to you to help us raise the money to pay for Kelsie’s diagnostic workup and surgery, if it was necessary.   Kelsie was scheduled to go to Tufts for her MRI and spinal tap.

The neurological team at Tufts confirmed the diagnosis we all expected and told us our options.   The good news is that the sooner you have a surgical intervention with Cauda Equina, the better the outlook for success.  They gave us an 80% probability of good functionality after surgery.  The other option was to give her medication for the pain and inflammation, but at most that might give her some relief for only a few years.  And, the possibility of successful surgical intervention would have decreased dramatically.

Kelsie had been in pain for probably up to a year.  The last thing we wanted was to extend that experience, so she went in for surgery last week.  All the people at Tufts fell in love with Kelsie!  No matter what they did, she was gentle and loving, always with a wag of her tail and offering a little kiss.  We held our breaths waiting for the news.  It was a HUGE relief when the neurologist called and said the surgery went as well as it possibly could and was a success. 

They found a bulge in one of her discs and removed the excess material to reduce the pressure on her spinal column.  They also removed part of the top of her lumbar and sacral vertebrae to allow more room for that critical bundle of nerves coming out of the spine low in her back.  We were told that Kelsie should be mostly pain free from now on after she recovers from surgery.   She will still have some arthritic changes in the lower portion of the vertebrae, but it was minor compared to impact from the Cauda Equina. 

Kelsie's staples (ouch!)

Kelsie with Kevin

Kelsie’s foster family visited her at the hospital the day after surgery to keep her spirits up.  She was a bit sleepy from all her pain medication but happy to go outside already for a little walk with her brother.

Happy Kelsie!

Can you help me?

Can you help Kelsie by giving GSRNE a donation to pay for her care? We need to raise $4500.

We have a very generous donor who has offered to MATCH every donation from now until Dec. 1, 2004!

So your donation of $5 automatically becomes $10!

And $20 will become $40, and $50 will become $100!

We accept all financial donations.  GSRNE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit group.  All donations are tax deductible!   Please make out checks to GSRNE, Inc. and send donations to:

Email is not available unless listed in specific pages.
Please call our 24-hour hotline at (978) 443-2202

GSRNE, Inc.;  P.O. Box 299 ;  Wayland, MA 01778

    Last Updated:     03/19/2008