Help with Faela's medical bills

Sweet Faoladh (Faela) bean, my 9 month old cattle dog pup, has a mysterious illness. My partner, Martha, and I have taken her to see two local vets, they've run many tests and the doctors are stumped. Our current vet would like to refer us to a veterinary neurology specialist in Burlington for a brain scan, MRI and spinal fluid tap to check for signs of meningitis or encephalitis.

Please help support us to get her the care she needs so we can finally get a diagnosis and a treatment plan that works.

More on her medical details and our story so far:

TLDR: Faoladh has had "episodes" of: a recurring fever, lethargy, no appetite and stiffness/pain just about every two weeks since the end of January. The episodes last for 4-5 days. In between episodes she is a happy healthy puppy you wouldn't even know is sick. Then another episode starts and she is stiff, sore and feverish again. The fevers have been dangerously high at times (highest recorded: 105.8F).

Here's what we know so far:

At the end of January 2024, Faoladh woke up store and stiff and was obviously in pain. She didn't want to eat her kibbles or jump up into the car or onto the bed. I assumed she was experiencing growing pains (she was 6 months old then) and let her rest over the weekend. When she was still feeling stiff and sore on Monday, I took her to our vet. They did a physical exam. She had a fever (temp of 103) and no apparent injuries. They took blood for a Lyme Disease test and prescribed carprofen for the pain and fever. Lyme test came back negative.

She got a little better on the carprofen but seemed to worsen overnight on the 31st, so we went back to the vet Feb 1st for x-rays. She was feeling a lot better once we got to our vet appointment that day. The scans came back clear with no signs of bone disease, injury or joint swelling.

About 2 weeks after her first episode, her fever and stiffness came back. Again, the episode lasted for about 4 days. We were instructed to keep her on the carprofen and we got through it.

Then, 3 weeks after that episode, her fever and stiffness came back. I emailed with our vet and they recommended to keep her on the carprofen. At this point they still suspected growing pains and said that if this continues for another 3 months that it might be bone disease. I started to feel frustrated with the nonchalance and worried for Faoladh, each feverish episode seemed to be really painful for her.

So about 2 weeks later, into mid-March, she had another episode but this time her fever was high. I recorded temps of 103.9 and as high as 104.3. This really worried me and I started to ask more questions and push my vet over email asking about the pattern (just about every 2 weeks this happens). The vet wrote me back and suggested that we tap her joint and look for autoimmune -- or just start treating her with antibiotics and steroids. I wanted to take a more basic, simple approach first since we hadn't tried much beyond the carprofen yet -- no bloodwork, nothing. I still suspected Lyme and so I said yes to starting her on doxycycline, hoping that would clear up any infections she might have. 5 days later, her fever got really bad (temp of 105.8) and the carprofen helped lower the fever but didn't help much with her pain.

At this point, I lost faith and trust in the process with our vet and wanted a second opinion. So we took her to another local vet the next day.

The new vet seemed much more concerned with the timing and pattern here and we started bloodwork and testing right away. We took her off the doxy for 2 weeks so we could test with a "Fever of Unknown Origin" panel. They took a urine sample to test her organ function and white blood cell count. They tested for Blastomyces and tested again for Lyme, Heartworm, Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichiosis. The physical exam showed that the pain is mostly coming from her neck so they took another x-ray.

All of these tests have come up clear / negative.

What we know: She has neck pain, recurring fevers, and a high white blood cell count showing moderate inflammation.

So now our doctor recommends that we go see a Veterinary neurology specialist in Burlington and do further testing.

It's been a long road already and I just hope we can get some answers for Fae and get her feeling better for the long haul as soon as possible.

With your support, we want to raise $4500 to help cover her medical costs and diagnosis. Martha and I do not have the cash to cover these expenses, and want to get Faoladh the medical attention she needs.

Cost breakdown for reference:

So far, we have spent:

Which is all LESS than we originally thought (we started this fundraiser asking for $7000 to cover the estimates). And now that we have a diagnosis and treatment plan, we are on the road to recovery!

Thank you for your help. And for reading our story. Every small amount you can offer in donations adds up to BIG support and makes this process possible. Not to mention, helps alleviate the stress and grief of watching her struggle with this illness.