Update
Hi there. Wanted to share that my little Wickett passed away this morning, one year after being diagnosed with SARDS. My heart is truly broken. You all were kind enough to send him a Muffins Halo, I would like to send it back in case it can help another little blind dog in need.
Lindsey Dickens
Backstory
“My name is Lindsey and my best little friend is Wickett, a 13 year old chihuahua mix. Wickett used to be a pretty normal guy, four legs, two good eyes and a very big bark!
That all changed in May 2006, when he was hit by a car and left for dead on the side of the road. We searched everywhere for him when he didn’t come back in from going potty outside (had managed to slip through a gate that someone had left open!) to no avail.
The very next morning my sister and I made phone calls and visits to every vets office and shelter looking for our dog. Turns out a Good Samaritan had seen him laying in the street, scooped him up, and took him home so he wouldn’t have to die alone. By some miracle he made it through the night, and the lady reported him as found to our local humane society who immediately put us in touch.
In tears, my sister picked him up from his rescuer and rushed him to our vet. The prognosis was grim. His neck was broken in two places, and he had many lacerations and missing teeth. He was paralyzed from the swelling in his neck. They told us he probably wouldn’t make it.
Wickett is a fighter though, and he did make it… but the journey was tough. He was sent home after several weeks in a thick neck cast, and he couldn’t use his legs. Slowly, with much love and determination, he slowly regained the ability to walk, but it became clear he would never regain the use of his front leg.
A year passed, and Wickett was up and around! He shuffled his back legs and hopped on the one good front leg, but he didn’t let that slow him down. Things took another bad turn though when he began to chew the toes on his bad leg, a trip back to the vet determined that the nerves were dying and causing him great pain. So, with much sadness we decided to have his leg removed.
In typical Wickett fashion, he bounded right back! It seemed to be a relief to have the painful leg gone, and he adapted quickly to tripod life. We thought everything was smooth sailing from there. Regular trips to the chiropractor and acupuncturist kept him comfortable, and he relished his job as greeter at my grooming salon, where all my clients know him by name.
Things took a turn for the worse again this past November. Wickett didn’t seem himself. He would freeze in the middle of a room and just stand there. I took him to my regular vet and to the chiropractic vet, fearing he had hurt his back or was in some kind of pain. They found nothing apparent but gave him pain medication. The next few days I began to develop a sneaking suspicion that something wasn’t quite right with his vision… and a trip to the eye vet confirmed that he had no retinal function.
He was diagnosed with SARDS, a terrible disease that is still being explored. He went blind in a matter of days and it shattered our hearts. Gone is the plucky little character that announced the arrival of clients, that loved to play tug with his little toy every morning when I was trying to tie my shoes. Now he is scared, unsure, and depressed. He got some pretty nasty scratches in his eyes from bumping into things, and had to have eye drops made from plasma to heal them. Now he just sticks to his bed, where its safe. He is hesitant to move around our house too much, and has smacked into walls on a regular basis it’s just not fair. Life was hard enough on three legs, and now he has no sight. We do our best to make sure he knows how loved and special he is, and he has so many people that love him! He still comes to work with me every day, but sticks to his safe bed.
I just recently discovered Muffin’s Halo, and think it’s wonderful how it helps restore some independence to blind dogs. With Wickett missing a foreleg, I’m not sure how it would fit him, but I look forward to getting more information to see if this is something that can help my poor little man.”
Angels,
WOW…talk about a survivor. ..I have a Wickett sense that this boy is going to get back to his plucky self once he gets a Muffin’s Halo.
