Jesse is Gone

We had to put Jesse, our 12 1/2 year old female Airedale Terrier, down yesterday. She refused to eat last Saturday and after several meds and trips to the vet this week, with no improvement or even a diagnosis, we decided with great difficulty to put her down. 

She had a very high white blood cell count which indicated a serious infection, but after many tests and xrays, they could not find the source. The vet came yesterday, 9/13/13 and euthanized her.

Needless to say, this was very difficult for both Carol and me. She was a champion companion, a brilliant and sensitive dog despite her dog-aggression tendencies.

We will miss her greatly.

Scuffer Syndrome Ends

Our male Airedale Terrier, Scuffer (age 9), several years ago was infected with Lyme Disease. The primary symptom was an inability to walk normally. His rear end would not function properly and he would drag himself along with mostly his fore legs. This 2006 video shows how it affects him.He also will sometimes cry in pain when he moves. He had a few episodes of this starting in 2005, but for the past 2-3 years he showed no symptoms.

For the past few days, the 'Scuffer Syndrome' reappeared. Today, he's normal again. We remain puzzled as to what causes this and the vets are baffled, too. Even an MRI shows no abnormalities that would cause this behavior. I think it may be neurological triggered by episodic infections somehow associated with the Lyme disease.

But we are so thankful that he seems to have returned to normal. I took him for a short walk on leash this afternoon and he was the normal Airedale we love.