Toby...Every once in awhile, Labrador Life Line is presented with a case that tugs at your heartstrings. Toby's story is one of these. Toby spent his first 6+ years of life on a 4 foot chain with no shelter. He was severely abused. His owners finally dumped him in a shelter. One eyed dogs, such as Toby, don't usually leave the shelter through the front door. In 1998, Toby was rescued by a member CUR. She has been loving and caring for him ever since.
Toby is a fighter, that is evident by surviving the first 6 years of his life. He is also a happy boy who has for the most part, been enjoying a fairly healthy life, that is, until the beginning of this year. Toby began to experience weakness in his rear legs. Concerned, his owner took him to the vet who ran numerous tests, but was unable to make a diagnosis. Toby underwent a myelogram that proved to be devastating for him. It left him completely paralysed in the rear and caused severe liver problems. Various treatments have been tried, with some leaving him very sick and weak. Even through all this, no diagnosis has been made that can explain the original weakness in his rear legs. When Toby is supported by IV fluids the extreme all over muscle weakness, lethargy, no appetite, depression reverses and he starts to improve. At some point, it was discovered that Toby's liver cannot tolerate the steroids that were being used in the treatment of the inflammation caused by the myelogram. One university has diagnosed Toby with degenerative myelopathy while his attending vet and others, feel Toby has a disc problem. An MRI is the only option left that will definitively diagnose Toby. After exhausting her personal finances, Toby's owner has appealed to Labrador Life Line for financial assistance.
** UPDATE **
Upon hearing of Labrador Life Line's decision to fund Toby's case, his grateful owner wrote this,
"How can I ever thank you for helping us so very much? I do not know where this all will take Toby
and me. We just may leave there after the MRI with a confirmed diagnosis of Degenerative Myelopathy,
but at least everything possible to help Toby will have been done. I am taking a picture of Toby in
his cart before we leave as I have not gotten one yet. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to
send you that picture and one of him walking again after we return."
Once again, without the generous supporters we have here at Labrador Life Line, wonderful owners like Toby's would not be able to do 'everything possible' for her beloved companion.