I found this poor baby in Santa Rita near Orotina on my way back from Puntarenas on 24th of April. I was turning the corner and I saw her out of the corner of my eye sitting in the middle of the road. Some kids rode past her on their bikes and as I waited for the kids to pass me I noticed she had a pinkish tinge to her. I continued driving but 10 metres along I decided to go back and take a closer look. She was pink and she had purple antiseptic all over her body.

I knocked on the closest door and spoke to a lady who later identified herself as Lorena. She had 3 rescue dogs, all in good condition and said they have tried everything for her. I said I'd take her and bring her back the following Saturday. We went together to look for the owner of this doggie who lived just opposite. When she didn't come to the door, Lorena called her. I only heard one side of the conversation but Lorena basically said to take her and find her a better home.

I couldn’t leave her there. She has papiloma warts and seems very miserable.

She also has anemia and mange resulting from a poor imune system as well as lots of skin bacteria. She got a shot for pain and inflammation as well as Nexgard which helps for the skin and to get rid of ticks and fleas.

At the vet they confirmed with a test that she has erlichia and anaplasma, so the mange treatment has been put aside for now. These are the bugs responsible for eating her red blood cells. So the mange treatment is unfortunately in hold but we are going to be giving her some medicated baths.

She’s on 28 days of erlichia treatment, has a follow up on the 9th of may and got a shot of ivermectin in the meantime. They may decide to continue with the ivermectin at her follow up

25 April:

Jessy had her first bath today but her skin is still very swollen, very red and bleeding in places. She has been resting a lot, eating a lot but also very vocal with the cats. She has a long tail that has been wagging a little.

She got her nexgard as soon as we got home and she’s sleeping in a warm bed.

Update 10 May:

Jessy went for her check where they did blood work and found that she was no longer anemic but that there were 2 areas that were concerning. Despite huge overall improvements, she had decreased levels of white blood cells and platelets. Platelets are what help the blood to clot and these are what get attacked by the anaplasma and the erlichia.

She also has a decreasing level of white blood cells which indicated an issue either at the level of the immune system or bone marrow. Her body has depleted the white blood cells and is struggling to make more white blood cells at the same rate they are being used.

So what is Jessy using the white blood cells for? Besides the erlichia and anaplasma, the doc suggests it could be the papiloma warts that are in her mouth. At this stage they are not entirely sure without keeping a very careful eye on her progress and monitoring changes.

Of the 3 issues she has, the papiloma warts are the least concerning. Until they start to block the airway they are best left alone. In fact he said that any interference with them could be detrimental to her health. Removing them, even to take a sample, would stimulate an immune response and actually create more warts.So the idea would be to continue treatment for the erlichia and anaplasma, move onto antibiotics for the skin and then continue to support her immune system while she fights off the warts.

Once her immune system gets stronger and the warts are still not gone, it is possible to remove them and send a sample to the National University where they create an auto-vaccine which will slowly but surely stimulate the body to reject the warts, creating an immune response against them.

Update 21 May

Jessie has almost finished her course of antibiotics, within the next few days she will go back to the vet for a follow up and a plan of action to treat the mange and bacterias on her skin.

Despite not actively treating her skin issues Jessie's fur has started growing back, she has zero bleeding, swelling and only slight scabbing.