Merit Update- She had MRSP

It has been almost two years since my last entry on here. It has been a long and rocky road for Merit. Along the way, we struggled to understand the new and upcoming bacteria to attack dogs.

Merit was diagnosed with MRSP in the bladder. MRSP was so new back in 2009 that it took me on countless hours of researching it with health officials in the US and UK. My vet specialist did not even know much about MRSP. It was my researching that helped educate her. Through the connection of The Bella Moss Foundation, I have now been working with other pet owners whose animals have come down with MRSA or MRSP.

MRSP has now surpassed MRSA cases in the US. It will be the next pandemic of dogs in the US due to the over use of antibiotics. Europe has already realized this and is now decreasing its use of antibiotics in animals. Sweden has reduced MRSA cases in their hospitals due to the reduction of antibiotics to its patients.

Merit had a long road to recovery. With very little information to go on by our internal medicine vet, we basically were left to learn about this horrible infection. Merit had a relapse and had to go on a second round of antibiotics. After that, we decided that we would not inflict her with anymore dangerous drugs that could possibly kill her and decided to work on improving her overall immune system. We connected with a holistic vet in the UK and through a protocol of homeopathics, nutrition, vitamins and chinese herbs, we improved Merit's heath. We pulled her from all visitations to nursing homes, stopped all dog training and outside visits for literally for 10 months.

What we learned through all of this that while we struggled through the process, we learned that we were not alone. Every day, dogs and cats and other animals (now cattle) are coming down with MRSA and MRSP. There is a need to educate veterinarians that hand santizing and good cleaning of facilities is absolutely a neccessity. Animal hospital workers need to wash hands between patients and stop the practice of contacting animals casually in waiting rooms. Many times they are the carriers of this bacteria.

We learned that vets need to reconsider their need to give out antibiotics like candy. It is often more beneficial to do a culture before pumping the wrong antibiotics. A vet should never vaccinate an unhealthy dog no matter if shots are due. Most dogs have a 7 year immnunity to diseases once the intial vaccinations are given. In our case, Merit was vaccinated while being treated for an ear infection. She had reactions at the vaccination sites which showed that her immune system was compromised by the antibiotics and thus allowed an opportunity for MRSP to take hold.

Since Merit's MRSP episode, we have made lots of changes. We have beefed up the quality of her nutrition even though we felt it was pretty good to begin with. We add lots of beneficial supplements to her diet. We already had a chemical free yard,...no lawn fertilizers and weed killers. We made sure household cleaners were green products that were safer for humans, animals and the environment.

Now we are trying to educate others. We are putting together a blog about MRSP and we are helping others whose dogs fall victim to this bacteria. Hopefully we can help others save their dogs lives.

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Barked by: Destiny (Dogster Member)

June 16th 2011 at 7:45 am