- J
This is Harold, my wife and I adopted him 7 months ago from a local shelter. We had been wanting to get a dog together for years. She wanted small, I wanted large; she wanted less energy, I wanted to take them for runs. Needless to say, finding a dog we truly loved was a long process. Then one day, walking through a shelter we found Harold. He was perfect! We were so excited to bring him home. We loved going on walks and taking him to the park or to go swimming. Talk about a happy, friendly puppy!
About two months ago we started to notice that he was walking with a bit of a limp. He was still playful and his absolutely normal self so we thought that maybe we had just been seeing things. A week went by and the limp was becoming a lot more pronounced. He was fine when he was at the park but would sit down and stop walking on the way to the house. Finally one day after running around he just sat at the bottom of a flight of stairs and refused to move. That's when we knew for sure something was wrong. We called our vet and got him in immediately hoping that it wasn't something serious. They did an exam on him and told us that they were concerned he might have hip dysplasia...he needed x-rays. We took him in and our worst fears were confirmed.
The vet told us that his left hip looked okay, it was a little dysplastic but we didn't need to worry about it immediately. His right hip was a different story. It was completely subluxated and was so dysplastic that there wasn't even really a joint. She told us in no uncertain terms that if we were to do nothing he would have only months before he was completely sidelined with severe arthritis. He needed surgery...
We are devastated. Harold has become such an important part of our family. We can't dream of life without him and we can't stand to see him in pain. We are currently talking with veterinary orthopedic specialists to find the best surgeon for the best price that we can find. Even looking out of state. The average price for the surgery that he will likely need is around $5500. We have been looking at all of our options to raise the money that we need in order to pay for the surgery and thought we would reach out to the community for help.
Our hope is to raise the money by the end of July 2016 to pay for the surgery. We are actively saving and raising what we can on our own, but we would like your help to ensure that we make it to our goal. So here is our proposal... whatever the difference is between the money we raise and the cost of the surgery, we will donate to the Washington Animal Rescue League. They are a great animal shelter in the Washington, DC area, and dear to our hearts because it's where we met Harold.
Not only are they a great shelter, but they also run a pet food bank program that provides food for local families with pets that have fallen on hard times. This program allows families who can't afford to feed their pets and would otherwise have to give them up, a chance to keep them until they are back on their feet.
For more information please visit: http://www.warl.org/
We cannot say thank you enough for your help. The ability to pay for this surgery, and to keep Harold happy and healthy is all we could ever want for him. Any contribution you make is so meaningful to us. And please feel even more comfortable knowing that any contribution you make is guaranteed to go to a great cause!
About two months ago we started to notice that he was walking with a bit of a limp. He was still playful and his absolutely normal self so we thought that maybe we had just been seeing things. A week went by and the limp was becoming a lot more pronounced. He was fine when he was at the park but would sit down and stop walking on the way to the house. Finally one day after running around he just sat at the bottom of a flight of stairs and refused to move. That's when we knew for sure something was wrong. We called our vet and got him in immediately hoping that it wasn't something serious. They did an exam on him and told us that they were concerned he might have hip dysplasia...he needed x-rays. We took him in and our worst fears were confirmed.
The vet told us that his left hip looked okay, it was a little dysplastic but we didn't need to worry about it immediately. His right hip was a different story. It was completely subluxated and was so dysplastic that there wasn't even really a joint. She told us in no uncertain terms that if we were to do nothing he would have only months before he was completely sidelined with severe arthritis. He needed surgery...
We are devastated. Harold has become such an important part of our family. We can't dream of life without him and we can't stand to see him in pain. We are currently talking with veterinary orthopedic specialists to find the best surgeon for the best price that we can find. Even looking out of state. The average price for the surgery that he will likely need is around $5500. We have been looking at all of our options to raise the money that we need in order to pay for the surgery and thought we would reach out to the community for help.
Our hope is to raise the money by the end of July 2016 to pay for the surgery. We are actively saving and raising what we can on our own, but we would like your help to ensure that we make it to our goal. So here is our proposal... whatever the difference is between the money we raise and the cost of the surgery, we will donate to the Washington Animal Rescue League. They are a great animal shelter in the Washington, DC area, and dear to our hearts because it's where we met Harold.
Not only are they a great shelter, but they also run a pet food bank program that provides food for local families with pets that have fallen on hard times. This program allows families who can't afford to feed their pets and would otherwise have to give them up, a chance to keep them until they are back on their feet.
For more information please visit: http://www.warl.org/
We cannot say thank you enough for your help. The ability to pay for this surgery, and to keep Harold happy and healthy is all we could ever want for him. Any contribution you make is so meaningful to us. And please feel even more comfortable knowing that any contribution you make is guaranteed to go to a great cause!