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Help for Huey

  • Going Strong!

      27 February 2023
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    Hello Huey’s Heroes!

    A sincere apology for the lack of updates, things have been rather busy in the Taylor household (more on that later).

    Huey has been having his regular monthly appointments for blood tests to monitor his Albumin (protein) and b12 levels. With the prednisone and b12 supplements these levels have thankfully remained high and as such we have been able to gradually reduce the prednisone and have recently stopped the b12 completely.

    We had a mini blip towards the end of last year when during an off lead walk, someone out of kindness gave Huey a treat, unfortunately he was just out of reach and the snack was swiftly snuck and swallowed! This brought on the same early symptoms of extreme liquid diahorrea and we had to very quickly bump his steroid intake back up to 15mg! A huge hike in dosage but a necessary action. Thankfully this did the trick.

    Fast forward to the New Year (can you believe it’s 2023?!) and Huey is back on track and his levels are remaining stable. He is now on just 2.5mg per day of the prednisone drug! His hair is growing back much quicker now too and his energy levels are way better. A huge relief for us both.

    Lastly, we welcomed our first born son, Peter Neville Taylor into the world on the 19th February. Our little family has grown and Huey now has a little brother to take under his wing. We are endlessly grateful that Huey was able to survive his ordeal and to meet his brother Peter. He is already very fond of the little man and has delivered an impressive amount of kisses to Peter’s little toes and head!

    I promise to check in again next month after Huey’s next vet appointment and hopefully with some continued good news.

    A lovely and excitable pic for you all to see, apologies for the mess, baby chaos and all that.

    We wish you all the best and speak soon!

    Dan, Tarryn, Peter and Huey!

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  • Patience is a virtue!

      2 September 2022
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    Kia Ora Huey's Heroes!

    We hope you are all keeping well and apologies for the radio silence! There have been a lot of goings on of late... thankfully all positive!

    Huey had a check-up visit at ARC today to assess his progress and have a blood test. He has put on a little weight, slow and steady wins the race as they say, and Huey is now up to 11.9kgs. Considering when he was at his most unwell, he was around 9.5-10kg, so he has come a long way, yet still remains on the lean side. Our vet Sarah, today gave Huey the news he really wanted to hear... MORE FOOD!!!

    Huey has a special diet these days and it is all fish based. Salmon and Tuna... he loves it! It was the thought that this novel protein and food source could be the key to healing Huey's gut and eventually being enough to manage his Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

    Ok so let's get to the part we know you all are wanting to hear... is he any better?!

    WELL.....

    YES HE IS!!!!

    Following today's blood test we are delighted to hear that Huey's gut is appearing to be on the mend and the IBD slowly coming under control. His protein (albumin) levels are now at 40 (please don't ask 40 what haha), with 33-38 being considered a standard range. Huey's levels were as low as 18!!!

    We should receive his b12 levels in the next week or so.

    So all in all, brilliant news! We are now able to take Huey off the anti-blood-clotting meds (Clopidogrel), he is no longer on the low-dose chemo drug (Chlorambucil) and we are reducing his steroids (Prednisone) from 20mg to 15mg with the aim of gradually having him come off this in the long term.

    Continued visits with the Veterinary clinic will be ongoing at a monthly spacing and all of your kind donations have been a massive help in helping us afford his care, medications, special diet and ongoing check-ups.

    We'll be back in a week with an update on Huey's b12 levels : )

    All our love!

    Dan, Tarry and Huey Bing Taylor <3

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  • No news is good news!

      13 August 2022

    Huey’s Heroes! Hello everyone. We hope you are all well!

    So it’s been a relatively quiet week on the Huey health front. We’ve had some runny poops but hey… he’s been eating 3x what his daily recommended intake would be. Huey has now transitioned fully onto his new food and seems to be enjoying this better than I think either of us anticipated. Salmon and Tuna based kibble with a lot of sciency stuff like hydrolysed proteins and “opti-restore” to help his tummy.

    We’ve had a thankful break from the vets this week meaning Huey hasn’t been poked and prodded, however we will be back in next week for more blood tests.

    With the steady increase in gaining weight and overall improvements in his character we are feeling positive.

    Once we get our next set of results we’ll drop another update!

    Enjoy your weekend everyone ❤️

    All our love!

    Dan, Tarry and Huey Bing xxx

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  • Turning the corner - Huey’s Heroes - Update

      5 August 2022
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    Good Morning Huey’s Heroes!

    Thank you once again for you continued support. It means the world to us and has helped keep our little family strong and positive.

    Huey has had a small bout of diahorrea over the last few days but this has thankfully just come right this morning!

    We had a another weekly check-in with our amazing vet, Sarah at ARC. Huey had full bloods taken, a couple of stool samples sent to testing and another b12 injection. With the diahorrea we made the move to put him back on antibiotics just in case something untoward was happening whilst waiting for results. Our ongoing plan has seen Huey’s feeding now hugely increase… he is now a very happy boy 😂 we are slowly transitioning him onto a specialist diet which he seems to be enjoying so far. The idea is that this novel protein food source will help his gut repair and manage his IBD over the course of his life.

    This morning Huey slinked out of his bed, had a good stretch and looked at us both very proudly! He has gained some significant weight over the past couple of days and he is starting to look much healthier. I was so happy this morning that Huey and I did a mini victory dance around the living room and he got lots and lots and lots of tickles!

    We are keeping positive, but are still firmly grounded to the reality of the situation.

    Keep positive team. Our little boy hears you, feels your love and is feeding off your energy!

    Kia Kaha ❤️

    Love Dan, Tarry and Huey Bing

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  • A Bitter Pill to Swallow…

      29 July 2022
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    Good Evening Huey’s Heroes!

    We hope you’ve all had a powerful week and are looking forward to a fun weekend.

    Huey had a visit to the specialists again yesterday, and of course, he was very happy to be there and see all the familiar faces! He had his O-Tube removed, a b12 shot and blood tests to check his full blood count and also his protein levels.

    These results came back today and unfortunately they are not good and the vet is concerned.

    Here’s the technical stuff:

    · Albumin (protein): Still severely decreased (18g/L, 33-44)

    · Complete blood Count: Evidence of severe on-going inflammation. No bone marrow suppression.

    Here’s the plan:

    Huey still has extremely low protein levels which could cause clotting so he is being put onto a drug to help prevent that. We need to monitor him closely.

    He still has very severe levels of gut inflammation. We are going to transition him onto a novel (new) protein and food source in the hope that his body doesn’t have an immune response and the inflammation levels improve.

    He also now needs a daily b12 vitamin supplement.

    Huey will be returning to ARC on Wednesday for further tests and we’ll have to do our best to keep positive and hope that those results come back better than todays.

    After all the progress and positivity, this really does feel like a bitter pill to swallow. Huey has already been through so much and has been showing such good signs of progress with good energy and a ferocious appetite. He’s a tough little cookie and the most loving little boy.

    I guess this is the whole reason why we set up this page. The reality was always going to be that Huey’s life would be impacted and potentially require a lot of ongoing care. The fact that we have received such amazing support really does mean that Huey has the best chance at getting to live the most normal life he possibly can.

    I’d love to be able to setup a charity event in the Spring/Summer to raise awareness around Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Dogs and look to setup a support network for owners and their pups suffering with this ailment.

    We wish you all a lovely weekend ❤️

    All our love and thanks

    Dan, Tarryn and Huey Bing

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  • Huey the Warrior!

      27 July 2022
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    Huey’s Heroes! I hope you are all well!

    An update on the little man!

    We are following the prescribed increase in food to slowly start building up Huey’s strength and muscle mass… we are now at 90g per feed with no side effects to date! He is also thankfully tolerating 90% of his medication orally since yesterday evening which greatly reduces the need for his O-Tube… fingers crossed he can get this removed tomorrow afternoon!

    As you can see in the picture Huey is still very tiny and it will take some time for him to put weight back on. The good news is that he is really starting to get his character and mannerisms back which is so amazing for us to see.

    The journey continues and Huey the Warrior keeps fighting ❤️

    Thank you all for the continued support and love.

    Kia Kaha. Stay strong. Our daily message to Huey and ourselves.

    Love from Dan, Tarryn and Huey Bing ❤️

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  • Huey’s Home!

      24 July 2022
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    Hi everyone!

    Huey came home this morning… and so did a pharmacies worth of medication!

    Our little boy has been very peaceful and happy to be at home in his comfy bed.

    We’ve managed 2 feeds so far, one through his O-tube and another out of his bowl! Meds have been a little tricky, one requiring to be pushed down his throat, one is his food and the rest down the tube. He’s tolerated everything so well and is making our lives very easy, considering how stressed we were at doing this for the first time ourselves.

    The aim is to now slowly increase his feeding volume across the week with a visit to the vets on Thursday for a check in and a b12 shot.

    Again, the next weeks and months are going to be critical so please keep up your awesome positivity! The miracle is in full flow!

    Thank you all again for you incredible kindness and love.

    All our love!

    Dan, Tarryn and Huey Bing!

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  • Help for Huey - Pupdate

      20 July 2022

    Hi everyone!

    Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone for their kindness and generosity!

    Huey has thankfully had a minor miracle overnight and is actually starting to eat some solid foods! Heck, he's even a little excited by it! He has also thankfully stopped regurgitating his food and meds. Long may that continue!

    A stool sample was sent off for testing on Monday and we have just had the results back. Bad news : ( unfortunately Huey does have a bout of Campylobacter which explains why he has had such a rapid decline in his health. That coupled with the severe IBD and PLE would be enough to put any pup in the hospital.

    Nevertheless, we now know what our little boy requires and our incredible lead veterinarian, Sarah, is an angel and has a steady, yet evolving plan to get our boy back to health and back home to us. Huey is in such amazing care and the nurses and vets are making a huge fuss over him. He's getting lots of cuddles and love and seems very happy and content.

    We had a lovely 10min visit with him today, and Dan gave him a solid pep talk and he was made aware of the huge outpouring of love and generosity from across the globe. He nodded his little head, gave us both a kiss, and said "I got this guys!".

    We still have to take things one day at a time, and there will be many small hurdles that Huey will need to overcome, but we are feeling positive about how things are proceeding.

    All of our love and heartfelt thanks. You are all champions in our eyes.

    Dan, Tarryn and Huey Bing Taylor <3

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