I keep telling you the dogs don't come to us ready to go. They come with needs that can easily leave me speechless. Situations I never expected, things I may never have heard of before.

There's a saying in vet school, "Don't try to treat the Zebras, treat the horses" meaning those hard cases that are unusual and difficult can be referred to specialists since they are way outnumbered by more "common" cases. The trick is to know whether the dog has come in as a "zebra" or a "horse". Well, look no farther than Sweetpups because those "zebras" somehow manage to land here. In fact, I am thinking of getting our new tshirts with zebra stripes!

Yesterday we headed to LSU with Mercury (one of our most recent "zebras") This precious soul came to us on September 8, totally covered in mange and treatment began within the next 24 hours to get her some relief. We did notice a large sore on her "wrist" through the mange but at the time there was no reason to suspect it to be anything other than part of her presenting condition. She was also unable to walk without discomfort as her feet were swollen and infected, another symptom associated with mange.

As she was treated, we began to suspect there was more to her condition than mange and once we got a negative skin scraping, we knew she was a "zebra" kind of girl. When her mange casque lessened, we started to see more and more sores on her legs that would try to heal and then re-ulcerate. There were also "pimple" like bumps that were now clearly visible on her body. Ok, so this was not a normal case of mange. At first, these were though to be fungal and then an overshoot of calcium, possibly caused by diseases such as Cushings but batteries of tests and bloodwork came up negative soooooooooooo, knowing she was a "zebra" we contacted specialists at LSU who rearranged their schedule to see her in their dermatology department as an emergency.

Five biopsies and a huge load of slides are still out for final scrutiny so the final diagnoses is still pending. However, while she was anesthetized during the biopsies, they noticed her lymph nodes were swollen so they drew some fluid and looked at it on a slide. And because it looked suspicious, they called in more specialists and eventually the Dean comes into the picture. And then A&M was contacted.

They did aspiration on the other Lymph Nodes and what the "think" they saw is unbelievable. Final verdict is still out BUT the specialists all agree there is a really big chance is suffering from a life changing disease from the bite of a TEXAS SAND FLY called Leishmaniasis. Treatable but not curable.

This is not a commonly known disease or condition in the United States, although there are some reported cases, but affects many in third world countries and has been identified in Texas. Go figure.

I am so very humbled and honored that God sends those here that need us most. Many "zebras" are simply euthanized because they are not "horses". Don't be surprised when our new shirts have zebra stripes on them.