Cochise Canine Rescue is located in Southern Arizona. We adopt throughout the state of AZ.
Help us get these dogs well...Help us Fight Valley Fever! DONATE to the Medical Fund TODAY!
Cochise Canine has a Valley Fever epidemic occurring among the dogs we have here and have taken in.
What IS "Valley Fever"? Valley Fever is a deadly, hard to treat and terribly expensive disease cause by spores found in the soil in the desert Southwest. It can impact humans and dogs alike. In humans it can present with flue-like symptoms; coughing, fever, lethargy...and in most cases goes away on it's own...or people can end up in the hospital or even die!
Dogs out here get it from digging in the soil and breathing in the dust and spores. And what dog doesn't like to dig? The spores can be anywhere from 4" to 4 feet below the surface of the ground.
Dogs manifest this illness in a number of ways: lethargy, coughing, nausea, anorexia, lameness (if it gets into their bones) or even seizures (if it crosses the brain/blood barrier)...any one or a combination of symptomes.
In order to find out if a dog has Valley Fever they need
expensive testing ($172 per dog is what it costs CCR) and
if positive, they will need to be tested every six months to
insure the medications are working.
Even after they are done with their medications (which can
be 6 months to a lifetime, depending on the dog) they will
need annual to bi-annual testing as this disease never really
goes away. It just goes into "remission" and can return when
the dog is stressed by something, like a secondary illness.
Muppet had VF for over three years.
She is slowly doing better but will need YOUR help....
The costs for anti-fungal medications are staggering!
Fluconazole is the first and relatively least expensive drug. If that doesn't work after 6-12 months (the "tier" ie level of infection isn't lessening) then Itraconazole is the second line of defense. Both of these medications can be "compounded" ie manufactured by Compounding Pharmacies for a lower cost than purchasing the human grade equivalent. Finally there is Sporanox, a liquid human medication which is fact the purest form of Itraconazole. A bottle costs over $300 in the US...although we have found that we can get it through a Canadian pharmacy for half price...But even for our 12 pound terrier, Muppet, a bottle last slightly less than 2 months!!
Currently the medications we are using for our infected animals are costing us OVER $250 a month for anti fungals and related anti-nausea and cough suppressant medications.
We are asking that you help sponsor one of these precious souls in order to buy them the time they need to get well!
It is a known fact that people are dumping their dogs that have Valley Fever at pounds when they cannot afford the expensive care needed by these dogs....and these animals are being euthanized…
Here at CCR we have FOUR dogs confirmed to currently have Valley Fever and several who will need testing as they are suspected of having it as well. Recently we tested two dogs (cost approx $350) thought to have VF and they were found to be negative. A blessing... but none the less a costly one!!!
The dogs who have “recovered” from Valley Fever are sometimes just buying time until the next occurrence of this deadly recurring disease. All of the animals who have or have had Valley Fever will need ongoing retesting to insure their health.
PLEASE in order to save these sweet and worthy dogs we NEED your help with their Medical Care.Won't you DONATE to help today?
Max and Missy are two of the
other dogs here who are
recently diagnosed with Valley
Fever, on medication and who
NEED YOUR HELP!
We thank you in advance!
Max update - July 2015: Max is clear of Valley Fever...and will be retested to insure he remains healthy within 6 months...
However now our dear Jasper has a case of Valley Fever. Our here in the desert of southern Arizona, this disease is endemic AND an epidemic!