In Memory of Emma

Pastel painting by Melissa Bartlett Los Alamos NM

My Beautiful Angel Emma

April 28 1993-March 20 2007

Emma disappeared on the night of March 20th 2007, from our gated and walled yard, she was never seen again even though many people searched for her.

Emma had came to us at the age of 8 weeks and we knew from the moment we saw her that she might be a superstar in the Dalmatian world. However this was not to be. She started seizing at the age of 15 months and I had to spay her She continued to seize weekly until she was 7 years old. She was considered an intractable epileptic meaning that no medication would work. Then one day when things seemed very bleak one of my list members on Epil-K9 suggested putting her on a raw diet.

We had nothing to lose, she was at the maximum of her medications both Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide. She barely knew where she was, she was so drugged . Within a few weeks of starting the diet the magic happened. Dr Billinghurst had formulated a diet for a stone forming deal ( she wasn't ) . I knew Lew Olsen of the K9 Nutrition List and she came to the same conclusion that this diet might help. From July 2000 to the night she disappeared on March 20th 2007 she had only 8 seizures. She had a wonderful life camping, climbing mountains, and swimming in rivers and lakes there wasn't a person or dog she didn't love, she was my hearts dog. There will never be another quite like Em. She was known throughout WWW as "The Face of Canine Epilepsy " Her diary can be found at http://www.cybermesa.com/~dalcrazy/Emma.html It has inspired many people that Epilepsy isn't a death sentence and that an epileptic dog can have a fulfilling life. My vet was very skeptical but he had to acknowledge in the end that the raw diet had worked a miracle. She was 5 weeks shy of her 14th birthday when she disappeared.

The Neurology Dept of the Veterinary College of North Carolina State started a fund in her honor called "Emma's Epilepsy Fund". You may wonder why this institution? The Epil-K9 Foundation has been working with the Neurology Dept for over several years providing monetary assistance for small projects and many of our dogs are involved with a research project. Emma's Fund will help buy equipment or provide funds for research when needed

To donate to the fund make a check out to The Epil-K9 Foundation Inc with Emma's Epilepsy Fund in the memo line. We will then send combine all the checks and send one check on to NCSU. This is so we may thank you properly. Please contact Marion for the address on where to send donations via check.

You may also donate via PayPal. If you have any questions please contact me Marion

 

Article from the Fall Isssue of the Magazine for the NCU College of Veterinary Medicine

 

Page last update: 01/25/2017