Nala's fund (Rest In Peace)

On the night of Tuesday March 4th, mine and my girlfriend's pug baby was taken to our local animal emergency centre because she was vomiting and was extremely lethargic which was very unusual for our little girl. She had an x-ray taken which revealed that a foreign body was blocking her intestine and needed to be removed via surgery, otherwise it would rupture her intestine.

Mollie and I were given a few options - We could pay $7,000 for the emergency centre to remove the foreign body. We could leave Nala at the emergency centre overnight for them to put her on fluids and monitor her for signs of deterioration and pick her up in the morning to take to our local clinic for surgery which would be a lot cheaper, or we could take her home to monitor ourselves overnight, then take her to our local clinic in the morning for surgery. Mollie and I literally didn’t have $7,000 so I just sat there and cried. We finally decided we would leave her at the emergency centre for monitoring, and we would pick her up in the morning to take her to our local clinic. The vet at the emergency centre said she would give us a call during the night if she showed symptoms of deterioration, and would ask for our permission to go ahead with surgery. I went to bed with my phone next to me and had the worst sleep of my life.

Mollie and I woke up the next day and picked our baby girl up from emergency ($1,500 for her overnight stay). We took her to our local clinic and were quoted between $1,200 and $1,900 for her surgery, assuming that it was going to be a straight forward process. Nala was admitted for surgery which ended up going for three hours. She had to have three incisions in her small intestine to remove the whole foreign body and stayed at the clinic for two nights to recover as she was in a lot of pain and wouldn’t eat. I applied for a $3,000 loan in the meantime which I thought would cover the costs of all of Nala’s procedures. Nala ended up coming home on Friday night (March 7th) and her vet bill came to a total of $2,488 for her surgery, her overnight stays and the fluids and medications she was constantly on. She still wasn’t voluntarily eating, so her vet told us that she needed to have 4-5 small meals a day to get her gut used to food, and if she wouldn’t voluntarily eat, we had to syringe feed her those meals. Nala also had four tablets a day that we had to get into her which was almost impossible.
Nala had a check up that Sunday (March 9th). She still wasn’t eating and her abdomen had become extremely bloated. The Vet checked her over and took some blood and said everything looked normal, however told us to take her straight to emergency the next day if her bloating got worse as it was a public holiday (Labour day) and they wouldn’t be open.

Monday March 10th (Labour day) came around and Nala was still extremely bloated and wasn’t eating. She was also having a lot of trouble walking because of the bloating and looked like she was in so much pain. Mollie and I took her down to a vet clinic/emergency hospital that my grandparents have been taking their pets to for over thirty years. One vet had a look at Nala and said his assumption was that one of her surgery sites had broken down, and that the contents of her bowel had leaked into her abdomen. He used a syringe to take a sample of the fluid from her abdomen and after running tests, said that she needed surgery, urgently. As it was a public holiday, he was the only vet on and had consultations until 7:30pm. We were told that after that, Nala’s surgery would be performed and we would receive a phone call around 9:30pm letting us know how Nala was going.

9:30pm came and we received a call from the vet Clinic. It was Nala’s vet letting us know that he had other after hours emergency cases that he had to deal with, and that he was about to start Nala’s surgery. He told us it would be around 11pm by the time he would be finished and that we’d receive a call once he was done.

11:43pm finally came, and Nala’s vet called us back with bad news – All three of her surgery sites had broken down. The contents of her bowel had leaked into her abdomen and caused extreme infection which had killed off parts of her intestine and her entire spleen. Her spleen was removed, as was part of her intestine and she had to be drained of all the infectious fluid inside her. Nala’s surgery sites were plugged up again to hopefully heal. Nala’s vet told us that she was a mess inside, and that it was the worst case he’d ever seen. He told us that she would have died if she didn’t have surgery that night, and that he wasn’t sure she was even going to make it through the night. Poor little Nala had been in so much pain for days, yet hadn’t shown a single symptom. Her poor body had been fighting so so hard. I felt like my heart literally broke. Mollie and I cried for ages on our kitchen floor, before putting ourselves to bed and waited for the morning to come.

Tuesday morning (March 11th) came and I received another call from Nala’s vet, however this time he had good news – Nala had somehow made it through the night and was recovering at a rate that was about a day ahead of where she was meant to be. Mollie picked me up from work and we went to visit her. She was incredibly bright, had her little curly tail wagging and was trying to jump up onto us to lick our faces. Nala was able to come home the next night (Wednesday March 12th) and her surgery and overnight stay came to a total of $1600. It was hard to keep Nala still in the car because she was full of beans and when we arrived home she scoffed down her dinner and did a nice big poop which was exciting because she hadn’t done one in a week! I took the next day off work to look after her but when I woke up in the morning she wasn’t full of energy anymore – she was very lethargic and just wanted to sleep in her little bed all day. She was no longer interested in her food and looked slightly bloated so Mollie came home from work and we took her down to the animal hospital again. Her vet monitored her overnight and called me in the morning (Friday 14th) to let me know that she hadn’t improved, and that he was going to have to open her up again to see what was going on. That afternoon I received a call at work – Two of Nala’s surgery sites had broken down again because the infection she had, had caused her intestinal tissue to become unhealthy. In order for surgery sites to heal the best they can, healthy tissue is needed. Nala’s three surgery sites were quite close together, so this time, the vet decided to just completely remove that part of her intestine and sew it back up, leaving Nala with only one surgery site. Nala’s surgeon informed me that she had a 50% chance of mortality because she had had so many huge surgical procedures in two weeks, and would need close monitoring for five days because she could go downhill extremely quickly anytime up until then.

It is now Sunday March 15th, eleven days after Nala was first taken to emergency. She is still at the animal hospital feeling very sorry for herself. She is on anti nausea medication, antibiotics and also a lot of pain medication. Nala is alert, but very quiet and still not eating. Her vets say we just need to keep our fingers crossed for her, and that it’s going to be a waiting game until she has fully recovered.

Nala’s procedures, hospital stays and medication have come to an estimated cost of $5600. Luckily Nala has pet insurance and we are able to claim 75% of that back eventually, however will be out of pocket approximately $1400 (excluding the treatment she has been receiving since Thursday March 13th, and will be continuing to receive until she has recovered)

My heart breaks knowing my baby girl has been in so much pain, yet hasn’t been able to tell me. Everyone who knows me knows how obsessed and in love with this little pug baby I am. She is the strongest little thing I know, and has been such an incredible fighter. No animal deserves to go through something like this, and I am so unbelievably proud of her but I just need her healthy again. I love my little pug baby, infinitely ♥

*Edit (Sunday March 16th)
We sadly lost our baby girl this morning. We received a phone call from her vet clinic, informing us that she was going downhill and that we needed to come into the clinic asap. It's about a forty minute drive to Nala's vet clinic and we made it ten minutes before she had passed :( Nala had so much infection going on inside of her that her body, along with antibiotics, just couldn't fight anymore. Her poor little body went into shock and she passed, peacefully, around 8:40am. Mollie and I are so heartbroken to have lost the most precious baby girl in our lives. She will continue to live on in our hearts, and we will love her for as long as we live.