We're reaching out to Lea & Brian's animal-loving community of friends and beyond to help save this dear dog's life. We cannot do this without your kindness and generosity.  

Lea came into Brian's life quite unexpectedly. Brian found her at his door on a cold day in December. She was freezing, hungry, and scared. Brian took her in and got her warm and fed. He couldn't figure out how such a young puppy wandered up to his home. Shortly after her arrival, it was clear something was medically wrong with Lea. After several vet visits, the vets believed she just needed a healthy diet and deworming. Unfortunately, her condition is far worse and she slowly began to decline. After a middle-of-the-night ER visit, Brian learned that Lea has all of the clinical signs of a liver shunt. It now made more sense why this young puppy ended up at Brian's door. Lea appears to be a cattle dog, and the best guess is that she was dumped by a backyard breeder who knew she was sick and didn't have the decency to care for her or humanely euthanize her. Instead, they left her for dead. Thankfully she wandered up to Brian's door and found someone who did care. 

Lea's liver shunt is a congenital defect that essentially causes her body to poison itself. When the body consumes proteins, a byproduct of this process is ammonia. The ammonia should be cleared out by the liver. In Lea's case, the blood vessel bypasses the liver and the ammonia builds up in her body causing severe neurological symptoms and ultimately shock and death. Liver shunts cause stunted growth (this is why Lea is a mini-version of a cattle dog), poor muscle development, abnormal behaviors such as disorientation, staring into space, circling or head pressing, and seizures.

Lea at the ER

This condition can be managed temporarily by administering medications that reduce ammonia in the body. “Unfortunately, over half of the dogs treated medically are euthanized within ten months of diagnosis because of uncontrollable neurological signs such as seizures, behavioral changes, or progressive liver damage. Dogs that tend to do well with long-term medical management are usually older at the time of diagnosis, have more normal blood test values, and have less severe clinical signs.” Sadly, Lea is not the latter and her time is running out.

To save Lea and give her the full life she deserves, she will require expensive diagnostics and surgery. The great news is that the surgery has a 95% success rate and dogs go on to live to their expected age. Here's what Lea needs to become healthy and we are so hoping you can help her reach this goal. 

• Internal medicine workup + CT or MRI is estimated to be $2,000 - $3,000
• Surgery to correct the shunt: $4,000

It's critical that Lea receive this treatment as soon as possible and we are eager to get her on the vet's schedule. The care will most likely occur at Upstate Vet in Greenville, SC where she was seen at the ER. Brian is also checking with UGA Vet School to see if they offer the same procedure at a lower cost.

Anything you can spare to give the gift of life to Lea is greatly appreciated. This sweet pup who was dumped and left for dead found someone who loves her but lacks the resources to save her life a second time. Please help by donating and sharing.

Thank you so much. We are so grateful for your caring and generosity!

Friends of Lea & Brian