Free Spirit Siberian Rescue: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

We recently saved a dog named Carlie who had some medical issues. We were able to use the grant money for her medical care to diagnose and treat her conditions.

Carlie has glaucoma and also an autoimmune disease that has affected her eyes. She was in need of going to an eye specialist to diagnose and treat her condition.

How many pets did this grant help?

1

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Carlie was pulled from a shelter in Texas. She is an older girl, around 8 years old, who also had some medical issues that needed to be tended to. We were aware that she had glaucoma in one or both of her eyes, but when she arrived we also noticed that one of her eyes was significantly smaller than the other. We weren’t sure how much eyesight she had, but we wanted to get her into a foster home to see how she adapted to a home setting as well as to be able to tend to her medical needs. Once in her foster home, she proved that she did indeed have some sight, but still we wanted to see what the issues were, so we took her to an eye specialist.

Not only did she have glaucoma, but she was diagnosed with VKH syndrome. Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome is also referred to as uveodermatological syndrome (UDS). Part of this disease is due to the fact that the body’s overactive immune system sends T-cells to attack the melanocytes. Clinical signs of the disease sometimes appear after a sudden stressful period. The T-cells usually start attacking the eyes of the dog, and then affect the pigmentation of the skin and coat. The disease is usually not life-threatening, but left untreated, it can cause pain and eventually blindness.

As instructed by the specialist, we are now giving Carlie eye drops regularly to, hopefully, not have the disease progress to the point where she can’t see. As for the glaucoma, there is no need for surgery yet, but we are continually checking her with follow-up appointments to ensure she is doing well.

Carlie is an absolute sweet girl who just loves the comforts of a couch and checking out the neighborhood of her foster home. We are currently still looking for her furever home at this time, but we are hopeful that the time will come soon for her to find her furever family to love her and continue her care.