Just Sharing re H2 LGA

Saw this + thought it's so important I have to share



Hi, my name is Leigh. I'm writing this story to hopefully raise awareness of a horrible avoidable disease known in Staffordshire Bull Terriers. It's called L-2-HGA (L-2 hydroxyglutaric acidurea) and is a metabolic brain disease. It needs eradicating to prevent families like mine going through the heartache of losing a pet unnecessarily and dogs being bred to live a life that's destined for misery, pain and death . If you care about animals of any kind please take time to read this.

Me and my husband had only been together a year when we decided we would like a dog. We had set up home together and thought a dog would be perfect for us to give a loving home. Our friend had recently purchased a SBT and we knew there were still some pups available so we opted for one of these; naively or stupidly never having heard of L-2-HGA we went along and had the choice of two male pups. My husband fell in love with Badger - our dog immediately. We took him home with no hesitation and not a care in the world. Badger was a happy, healthy, hilarious pup that brought us immense joy and happiness. He was our best friend, our first baby if you like! We did everything together as you can imagine and we could never imagine life without him.

Unfortunately when he was 3 years old his characteristics changed so suddenly it was like our dog had gone mad. He began pacing, panting, howling, urinating amongst other things; it was awful! It was late at night but we rushed him to an out of hours vet in our area who suspected epilepsy but after observing Badger overnight realised it was something more sinister. He told us to take Badger to a specialist in Newmarket, * White Referrals, because he suspected Badger had L-2-HGA. We had never heard of this disease but knew by the vet’s face it was very bad.

We took Badger to Newmarket where they ran various tests, took spinal fluid, brain scans etc. They confirmed the worst: it was L-2-HGA and as a result also meningitis. It didn't look like we would ever get our boy back, but after a few days the vet rang to say Badger was responding to the medication, was acting more normally and had calmed down a lot. He was treated with various vitamins and steroids. After six long agonising days with our dog’s life in limbo we were allowed to bring him home. When we went to get Badger we were worried about what we would face. Amazingly the medication had brought our dog back and was keeping the L-2-HGA at bay which was amazing news. But with all good news there seems to be bad. The bad news was this disease couldn't be cured and our dog would deteriorate and ultimately die because of this disease. In maybe one week, one month, one year this disease was going to take our precious dog away from us and there was nothing we could do. We returned home and looked after our poorly boy like a king. We wanted to give him the best life we could. He was on daily medication which wasn't cheap at all and had special brain disease dog food which was also very very expensive but we didn't care as long as we had Badger home and happy we would have done anything to keep him with us. So our future together was uncertain, Badger with a deteriorating disease that could return at any time. But we carried on making the most of our time together and giving him as good a life as possible. It was always on our minds when would the medication stop working? Would he go mad just like before? When would we lose our boy? It was a sad thing to live with.

Badger was happy and healthy for another 21 months. He had a couple of episodes of howling, pacing, being unable to settle but the continued use of steroids cured that for the time being. There were other traits of this disease that Badger had to live with: being lethargic for periods, seeming sad, light sensitivity, tremors to just name a few, but the good days very much outweighed the bad. By September 2013 we knew he wasn't the same happy Badger; these symptoms were getting worse by the day. We knew it was only a matter of time for him; he was deteriorating. By now we had two children who loved Badger immensely, rolled around with him, kissed and cuddled him. But all that changed. He became snappy, not just with children but with us, his owners, his best friends! We knew it was time to say goodbye; he wasn't happy or comfortable, didn't want any affection, walks or any of the other stuff our dog loved so much. It was a hard decision to come to and I can honestly say one of the saddest days our family have ever known. Everybody who met Badger fell in love with him instantly - he was an amazing dog and friend to have. September 13th ironically we decided we couldn't let this awful preventable disease destroy Badger any more and for his sake put him to sleep. It was so heartbreaking but at the same time a huge relief knowing he wasn't in any more pain and was at peace. If we had known about this disease we would never have taken Badger into our lives. We wanted a friend for life, not to be taken away from us at just 5 years old. Obviously, saying that, we are immensely proud to have had such a loving, loyal friend but we would never have handed over money to a mindless breeder who didn't care about the welfare and life of the pups. We are glad we had him because we know we gave him the best care possible. The vet fees were £4000+. Luckily we were insured for the majority but I know a lot of people do not insure their pets and do not have that kind of money. We certainly didn’t!

This disease is caused by breeding from L-2-HGA carrier dogs and all dogs can be tested for just £60 which is a small amount for breeders to pay considering SBTs sell for £400-£500. If I was to buy a SBT in the future I would make sure they are L-2-HGA tested clear and witness the paperwork to prove it. I suggest everybody do this and breeders become more responsible and get all their breeding stock checked for this awful disease. Nobody wants a dog to live a doomed life, pet owner or breeder surely? If everyone becomes aware of this disease hopefully in time it will not exist. That would save everyone involved a lot of heartache and the poor dogs involved from pain and suffering. It would also protect the future existence of SBTs.

I know this message will probably fall on deaf ears but we wouldn't want anyone to go through what we did or any more vulnerable dogs to have to live with this disease. If this story makes one breeder or potential dog owner stop and think and do the right thing we know Badger’s death won't have been in vain. Anyone who has a pet or has lost one will understand why we want to get this disease made aware of so please everyone breed responsibly and not just for quick cash and potential dog owners research everything about the breed and when purchasing ask to see paperwork of L-2-HGA or relative diseases etc. We are the only ones on this earth who can look after our dogs - they need us, so the people they trust and rely on, us humans, need to do the right thing by them. Together raising awareness we can eradicate an awful disease that only causes heartache, pain and ultimately death for our loveable four legged friends.

RIP BADGER xxxx

Aww heartbreaking for you and you family to go though the terrible disease L2-HGA, I hope your story changes the minds of many a breeder. I'm so very sorry for your loss, run free badger at rainbow bridge, rest in peace little man

I was just sharing, it wasn't my dog although it could have been

Testing is soooooo important and I'm just trying to make people aware that they shouldn't buy from BYB xxx

Yeah testing is so very important, sorry missed the bit at the very top such an awful disease

Saw this yesterday on one of my FB groups , lets just hope people read and think about those tests before any thoughts of breeding

RIP Badger

Thanks for sharing it is such an important message to get across, so sad :-(

Thanks for sharing, Tracey, there's a member here whose dog has been diagnosed with L2-HGA. It's so very sad. 

Just read this and I'm in bits. As said in the post it's a awful, horrific disease.

Its something I had never heard of until coming on here (I have a rescue) but oh my its heart breaking and so important.

Poor thing Such a terrible disease. Somebody on here has a dog who was recently diagnosed with it, though they've dealt with it extremely well.

I'm sorry if I've upset the person whose dog has been diagnosed, but I just hoped it would raise awareness of what can happen if people breed without health testing. The tests are not expensive and can save a lot of pain and heartache

xxx

Hi Tbag, it's me with ruby who has L2HGA and no you haven't upset me at all. I post on here about Ruby's condition to make others aware. The story you posted is similar to ours as we had never heard of this awful disease till diagnosed.

Such a sad story, we need awareness of this awful disease and sensible breeders. R.I.P Badger xxxx

I too had never heard of this disease until I joined this forum.

I am so very, very sorry to hear of Badger, and I think and hope that Jane knows already how much we all care about her and Ruby, and their on-going battle.

Many of us have rescue dogs, and more (including myself) who have dogs obtained as puppies from breeders who we now know should have been a lot more careful. Either way, we have no idea whether the parents were L2HGA carriers or not.

Does anyone know whether there is a test available which can be carried out on our dogs to show whether they will develop this disease as they grow older?

Lynda the same swab test can be done at any age. There's 3 outcomes in the results - clear, carrier and affected. Only affected dogs develop the symptoms. Carriers don't develop the disease but if mated with another carrier can pass on to pups. The test is £48 from animal health trust.

Janemiles13 wrote:Hi Tbag, it's me with ruby who has L2HGA and no you haven't upset me at all. I post on here about Ruby's condition to make others aware. The story you posted is similar to ours as we had never heard of this awful disease till diagnosed.

Sending you a big hug and much love xxxx

And as much support as I can give you xxx