She’s always in our hearts, in our home and in our discussions. Nobody will ever stop us from remembering her and talking about her!

Murphy’s Tragedy
April 30, 2003 – February 5, 2004

This is an accurate (and unfortunately preventable) account of what happened to Murphy, our 10½ year old Yorkie who was in excellent health. She was taken to the vet for her annual heartworm test early in April (negative diagnosis) and brought back for prevention medication on April 30, 2003. At that time of the visit, ProHeart6 was the only heartworm medicine suggested. Her guardian expressed concern with using this drug due to her past sensitivity to the monthly tablets. He asked the vet if, due to the fact she was so small, giving her ProHeart6 was a good alternative to the monthly tablets. The vet was already aware (even making a note on Murphy’s chart) that she was already sensitive to the tablets. No concern was expressed on the vet’s part and he reiterated that the drug would be fine for her. On April 30th Murphy received what proved to be a fatal dose of ProHeart6 Heartworm Prevention Medicine. It was the only medication she received on that day.

Following is a “diary” that we kept of the adverse reactions Murphy exhibited from receiving this “poison” and the timeline in which it occurred:

2003

April 30 - ProHeart6 shot. (weight 10.5#)
May 1-4 - Took Murphy on a weekend trip and she was very uneasy and restless…she just wasn’t acting herself.
May 15 - Incontinence began; prescribed Ephedrine (pill form) Threw up a huge amount of mucus at around this same time.
End of June - Becoming anorexic (refusing to eat) but still drinking water.
Month of July - Ate almost nothing but drank excessively. (Note this is continuing for over a month at this point)
July 29 - Vet appt. Blood work done.
Lost approx 30% of body weight in less than 3 months. (weight 8.2#)
August 12 - Force-fed her a high calorie supplement from local pet store and over the counter vitamins. At first she would eat voluntarily and later we would force it into her mouth.
August 13 - Changed from pill to liquid for incontinence, as she hated the bitterness of the pill.
August 18 - Experimented with taking her off of the incontinence meds and she never had a problem again. (We feel it was another symptom of the drug that ran its cycle)
September 6 - Vet visit; bloodwork. (New vet-again) (Weight 7.7#) The vet seeing her did not feel that she would survive until the 6 months expired.
(The 6 months would not expire until the end of October.)
September 9 - Called vet and asked for advice on getting her to eat.

Around this time, we purchased an eyedropper to force water into the side of her mouth. With the prescription dog food for sick dogs, we would open her mouth, scrape it off our finger on to her teeth and hold her mouth so it would force her to swallow. We fed her at least 6 times a day to get ½ of her normal intake into her. At this time she was eating approximately ¼ of the normal quantity of her consumption and MAYBE 3 ounces of water. This went on for over 6 weeks.

Also during this time, Murphy shivered continuously, night and day. She was so sick that she was unable to get up or walk. For weeks we carried her outside. When she was finally able to stand, she was very agitated.

One night she walked in a circle to the left for THREE hours from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. then finally collapsed in exhaustion.

The next day she was walking relatively straight.

The third day she began circling again, only this time to the RIGHT!

There was NO logic to this reaction. It was suggested to us that she had a brain lesion but after hearing that she was walking in BOTH directions, that possibility was eliminated. When she wasn’t completely wiped out from these physical reactions, she’d pace the house…. constantly.

During the month of September (Illinois was in the 70’s during the day) she wore a winter sweater all day, every day and trembled constantly and uncontrollably. We would hold her in our lap, wrapped up in an afghan and hold her to keep her from shivering.

She would just stand for an excessive amount of time with her head turned to the side. These appeared to be seizures of some type...maybe milder than grand mal, but still seizures. We’d call her name to try to pull her out of it but she’d go right back to doing it. Then, exhausted from standing and not eating, she’d fall over.

September 12 - The vet thinks she detects a left side heart murmur. Murphy was walking like she’s overly medicated at this point. Falling over, etc.
September 13 - Had BUN (chart reads elevated 49 0.5-25)
Asked for urinalysis and it indicates good kidney function. (weight 7.5#)
September 15 - Note made on her chart by new vet that was treating her: “Elect to monitor Murphy for the next few weeks rather than do any further testing at this time with the hope that when the ProHeart shot wears off that she will return to normal.”

The vet also told us that if we went on vacation and left her with others, she would die before we returned. (At the time, we had tickets for vacation… which we cancelled)

September 19 - New vet again! Pupils dilated. Grade II heart murmur. Heart rate varies via stress from 100-160. Vet suspects brain lesion and recommends visit to neurologist. On chart, vet records “slightly ataxic”
Another urinalysis run: We have results but don’t know what they mean.
(Weight 7.2#)
September 24 - Consulted with a holistic vet via phone. Started her on electrolytes, Colostrum, baked chicken with garlic and honey run throuhg a food processor. We were also brewing Essiac tea and feeding it to her through an eyedropper. Murphy is still walking in circles to the right during this time and drinking sporadically.
September 28 - Begins to drink out of her bowl again, something she hadn’t done in weeks. Around this time she began to exhibit some of her old behavior. Things familiar to us that we knew she did, based on past experience. We were aware that we were not out of the woods yet. She resumes eating sporadically and very, very little and is still experiencing anxious episodes and restlessness. Still has the seizure-like episodes that we termed “zoning out”
October 1 - Up at 3:30…anxious and growling at nothing. Pacing and still “zoning out” periodically. Began her on a raw food diet.

Early October Becoming apparent that she’s not seeing. Remember having conversation with one of the vets back in mid to late August. At that time we asked her if she felt that Murphy was able to see and she said “definitely”. (This reminds us that the eye situation started back in August) Now eyes are turning blue and she is not seeing. Running into furniture.

November 7 - Started steroid eye drops
Refilled script and still using drops
December 2 - Doing very well with exception of sight. Has recovered from all adverse reactions to ProHeart6. She is completely blind in left eye and sees very little out of right, but there is SOME sight. Left eye looks “green” and right eye looks “blue”.
Guestimating weight is back up to about 9#…will weigh her when we return for evaluation after this eye drop script is out…. probably within the week. Vet will then want to refer her to an ophthalmologist for an exam.
December 12 - We traveled to the University of Illinois Veterinary Clinic to have eyes evaluated. Local vet instructed us to go to an ophthalmologist immediately…that day! She found blood pooling in the bottom of her left eye. U of I vets ran tests and prescribed Prednisone Drops. Also, another drug, perhaps and antibiotic. It had to be specially compounded in New Jersey due to Murphy’s small size and sensitivity to medicine.
December 24 - Check up at local vet.
December 27 - Murphy goes completely blind sometime during the night. Her right eye had some sight (Left eye none) and during the night, she lost what little sight she had left. We could tell this by the fact she fell down a step into the great room and ran into walls…where the day before, she was able to negotiate within the house and could see the door to go in and out.
December 31 - University of Illinois Veterinary Clinic ran a battery of tests (10 hours) worth and ultimately diagnosed Lympho Sarcoma in her right eye after “aspirating" (STICKING A NEEDLE in to eyes)

During this time her right eye begins to fill with cancer and becomes so enlarged that she is unable to close her eyelids completely over the eyeball, thus we had to apply a lubricant and antibiotic lubricant approximately every 1-2 hours, around the clock, so that the eyeball did not dry out and cause her pain.

(One vet felt that ProHeart6 could have compromised her immune system so drastically that it made it all the easier for cancer to invade her body.)

2004

January 6 - Check-up at local vet so that eye is closely monitored
January 7 - Check-up at local vet so that eye is closely monitored
January 9 - Check-up at local vet so that eye is closely monitored
January 12 - Check-up at local vet so that eye is closely monitored
January 16 - Check-up at local vet so that eye is closely monitored
January 20 - Right eye is removed at University of Illinois
January 30 - Check up and evaluation at local vet
February 5 - It all comes to an end.

Murphy has a horrific convulsing reaction and we feel that she has reacted to pain that was so severe in her head that she began to “scream” and howl and writhe in the snow.

We can never let her go through this kind of pain again and bring her to vet to have her put to sleep.

February 18, 2004 - We picked up a box containing Murphy’s ashes.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH
FORT DODGE
&
THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Initial call to Fort Dodge was mid September to a ________ He initiated calls and conversed several times with at least two vets that saw Murphy; one being from the University of Illinois. We received a case number on Oct 8th 2003 and sent him all of the expenses as of Oct 29, letting him know there were more to follow. He said they’d pay for all of it at once, when we’re finally done. (Murphy died on February 5, 2004 and the “hush” offer was dated May 5…which was sent after several phone calls on our part). This representative told us that if it were necessary to see an ophthalmologist, he would then contact them directly to arrange payment by Fort Dodge, as opposed to our paying for treatment and being reimbursed by Fort Dodge. He seemed agreeable. He told Murphy’s local vet they’d support the treatment and testing financially and she even charted his comments on Murphy’s file.

We then contacted Dr. ________with the FDA sometime early to mid October. Left messages as she was out of county. She did have another vet from the FDA call me back on approximately October 21 and I told them the whole story up to that point. I was encouraged by another dog owner/victim to call Dr._______because of the eyesight situation. The other dog owner said that no other cases of blindness, other than her own dog’s case, had been reported.

The only correspondence with Fort Dodge was when we initiated it. They NEVER called voluntarily and in fact, several times I was “put off” by whoever answered the phone at Fort Dodge AFTER I stated who I was.

The vets we visited were all very empathic toward us and cooperated fully with Fort Dodge, with the exception of the vet who injected her with ProHeart6.

The hardest part was the “not knowing” what was causing all of these symptoms and by the time we figured it out, precious time was lost in getting Murphy treatment. The vet who injected her either didn’t know or didn’t care what was causing all of these horrible reactions and never pursued finding out what the problem was. After securing a new vet, we called and requested copies of Murphy’s medical records from the vet (her original vet of 8 plus years!). Upon arriving at the clinic to pick up her history, he was standing behind the counter. He KNEW why I was in his clinic…he had given the okay to release the information. That, and the fact that Fort Dodge had already contacted him (it was written on her chart that I requested the copies) and her vet of all these years didn’t and wouldn’t even ask me how Murphy was when he looked me straight in the eye. Why? How can a vet be that nonchalant regarding an extremely sick dog?

All of this information and paperwork was sent to Fort Dodge (at their request) on 2/18/04 return-receipt mail and was received and signed for at Fort Dodge/Wyeth on 2/23/04 by __________.

We eventually received a “hush” letter and offer of compensation from Fort Dodge on Saturday, May 8, 2004 (postmarked May 5, 2004) offering a settlement of $2069.05 of which $4069.83 of debt was submitted. The release form demands that my dog never be discussed again with anyone and that Fort Dodge is absolved of and admits to no guilt on their part.

Phone call placed to _______ (the same representative of the company with whom we’d been communicating), on Monday, May 10, 2004. He, as usual when we’d try to contact him, was unavailable and I was transferred to his voice mail. He returned the call that afternoon. His explanation of the offer was that only diagnostic testing was covered (however we were told that Murphy’s expenses would be covered and vets were encouraged to keep treating her). Any lost work time and mileage incurred by us was not; chemotherapy treatments #1 and #2 were not. I refused the offer and was immediately counter offered $2700, asking if THAT amount would end the incident. I told him “no” and he told me that “this case would then remain in limbo”.

At this time I demanded that they remove the lies from their website (page 2) regarding Murphy’s case. He said, “He’d forward my concern to their legal department.” I told him we wanted them removed as they were lies and AT NO TIME did we EVER give them the right (nor did we sign any release) to print any personal information regarding our dog. They have blatantly exploited our horrible experience by lying about the particulars. It adds even more insult to the loss we’ve experienced. In our opinion, they killed our dog and then printed lies about it.

Also, he was told that we had known for some time that these lies were indeed on the Internet but chose not to say anything because we felt that the lies they printed could cause them more trouble than anything else they’ve done to us in this whole tragedy. This was not a threat, simply an observation. I also told him he lacked any and all integrity, knowing full well that Murphy’s inability to walk had NOTHING to do with Luxating Patellas, a condition common in small dogs. He SNICKERED at me!

In August 2004 we sent a letter to the president of Fort Dodge, demanding our money be reimbursed in full for the expenses we incurred during Murphy's illness and death. Two weeks later, I called their office (after not having heard from them) and was told that our letter was forwarded to their legal department and that the person with whom we should speak was at lunch and would return my call. A couple hours later I was called back by the president's secretary and told that the legal person was NOT out to lunch, but out of the building for a two day conference! I found that interesting that she would have known that he was specifically at lunch and then two hours later, she changed her story to him being out of the building!
Incredible! On September 7, I called again and finally spoke directly to their VP and Division Counsel of the Law Department. He told me he hadn't even looked at our case and I told him that we had been waiting since FEBRUARY to hear back from them.....meaning that February was the month Murphy died from their product. September 13th I called again! During THAT call I was told by the legal counsel's secretary that a letter was 'in the mail' (Note: it wasn't. It was postmarked several days after the day she said she sent it out.) She even had the nerve to laugh at me at one point when I asked what the letter contained, if she remembered that one was being sent to us. I'm calling about our dead dog and she's condescending, stating that "there's no way she could remember the letter's contents, it was two pages long!"

Later in the month of September, I had another phone conversation with legal counsel and reiterated that I would accept nothing less than the expenses we incurred. I also told him we were ENCOURAGED to continue to do what was necessary to get Murphy treated. We were encouraged by a Fort Dodge employee! He said that the particular person who encouraged us to continue all the treatment didn't have the authority to do so! But yet, our first offer of reimbursement CAME FROM THIS PERSON! How does he have the
authority to offer us "gag" money, but didn't have the authority to authorize Murphy's ongoing medical care? This person specifically called at least two of the vets who were treating Murphy on an ongoing basis! SO, who's kidding who! Ultimately we were offered, in a phone call, $3000.00 dollars and told the paperwork would be forthcoming. In the meantime, my husband wrote an e-mail to Fort Dodge's address expressing that false
reports about Murphy's condition were put out by Fort Dodge and that we will not accept anything less than we spent, due to their negligence and we will not be "gagged" by them either! He also wrote that we will continue to work toward a permanent removal of ProHeart from "vet and other clinics, pet suppliers, etc."

As a result of his e-mail to them, three days later a letter was written specifically to him from their legal counsel, which states (and I am quoting from their letter) that:
"it appears we are no longer interested in discussing a reasonable solution to our disputed claim. Fort Dodge takes strong exception to your misleading and disparaging portrayal of our company's actions, its products and our efforts to amicably resolve your monetary demand. It seems clear that further discussions would not be productive."

"Misleading and disparaging portrayal?" Keep in mind THEY printed lies on
their website about Murphy's condition.

"Amicably" resolve our "demand"? It took until September '04 (7 months after her death and over 16 months after she received ProHeart) before we could even get anyone to speak to us! I don't think "amicable" is the correct word here.

Demand? I had the NERVE to demand the money back that we spent trying to
save our dog's life from the product that Fort Dodge manufactured? It was
our money in the first place. And everyone, and we mean EVERYONE, got their
money but us. The vets, Fort Dodge, everyone!

We would have never had this story to tell if it weren't for ProHeart.

Nothing will bring Murphy back but to add the ambivalence of some people to
the anguish we already went through, is just too much.

So, as of today, whatever day you're reading this, nothing has changed
regarding Fort Dodge's negligence regarding Murphy's case. She's always in
our hearts, in our home and in our discussions and nobody will ever stop us
from remembering her and talking about her. Especially Fort Dodge

IMPORTANT UPDATE REGARDING THE FDA’S FINDINGS

On Monday, July 26th, 2004, we received the Adverse Drug Experience (ADE) report from the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine dated July 21, 2004. 16 primary symptoms experienced by Murphy due to ProHeart6 were assessed by them and determined as follows:

(Reminder: There was never a necropsy done on Murphy. Therefore, a “definite” declaration of any of the following symptoms would not be determined.)

Stick with the pills, you DO have a choice.

Daddy's Letter

Laurie