Rico’s Story

Age at diagonsis: 1 year 5 months

Breed: Mini American Shepherd

Rico quite ended up in my life by "accident" and I am so glad that he did. He is the light of my life and he brought so much joy to my elderly border collie I had at the time. Rico has had a difficult life because he was diagnosed with bilateral elbow dysplasia in his front legs when he was just 6 months old. Thankfully, after visits to the specialist vets and many X-rays and close monitoring for many months, we got the news that he would most likely be able to avoid surgery. I had to change our plans for him a bit - I had wanted to try agility with him. I chose to do nosework with him to keep him stimulated and boy - am I ever glad that we went in that direction! Rico has many titles to his name now and there's no stopping him!

When Rico started experiencing extreme pain episodes that literally made him insane, I rushed him to my local vet who suspected SRMA and referred me to a specialist who was an 18 hour drive away. A spinal tap and MRI confirmed my vet's diagnosis and we started on our treatment journey. He was on prednisone from May to December of 2024 and has been in remission since then. I know that SRMA is unpredictable and cruel but I am determined to enjoy every pain free day as a gift, and Rico and I will continue with our nosework goals and dreams.

Rico lost his "big brother" a year ago and recently I brought another mini American shepherd into our household. She and Rico are fast friends now. Thankfully she has been blessed with good health so far.

Rico 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.