Frankie’s Story

Age at diagnosis: 5 years

Breed: Doodle

I had Frankie for about 2-3 months (got her from a rescue - they think she was in a puppy mill). She was seemingly normal and healthy before I got her. We vaccinated her with no problem. Then we spayed her. A day or 2 after the spay she became sick, quickly. I work at a vet so I was able to take her in there daily. I went to move her out of her cage in the hospital and she screamed in pain, couldn't move her neck - and that's when we suspected MUO. She had a fever up to 105 and NSAIDs didn't do a thing to it. My doctor said it was time to try steroids or take her to the emergency vet (which I couldn't afford). Within an hour her temperature had started to decrease. It probably took us 8 months to get her off steroids. 9 months later she came down with diarrhea, a high temp again and was very lethargic. We don't know what triggered it that time. We did it all over again. She's been off steroids for 2 months now and so far so good. I'm always on pins and needles and she always seems sore in her neck/back area - we aren't sure if that's "normal" for her or related to the MUO.

Frank is part of The Theo Project's canine meningitis registry - a growing global collection of MUE, MUO and SRMA stories shared to help families facing this diagnosis.