Duke is a six year old, liver spotted Dalmatian, that is very well loved by his whole family: his GSD brother, Gauge, his Doberman brother, Thor, and his human sisters: Adeline and Lorelei, as well as his human brother, David.
Duke has always been in good health. He's a beautiful boy, and he knows it -- he uses his good looks and charm to his advantage. Out of the three pups we own, Duke has always been the most patient with our (human) children. He has the biggest personality, as well. Duke was our first baby, before our babies.

Thursday, 5/5, Duke began to act weird. He would stand in a funky stance for close to a minute. He was still pottying like normal, eating and drinking, and playing, so we dismissed his weird stance. Duke has injured his tail before, and we honestly put it off that it was a silly injury, if it was an injury at all.
Friday, 5/6, Duke (who mind you, never, ever, ever misses a meal) wouldn't move from his doggie bed when he heard me putting together breakfast. That, was a red flag for me. I tried to give him some pumpkin, thinking, maybe he was constipated? He denied the pumpkin, and that was when I knew 100% something was wrong. This pup has NEVER denied any form of a treat, whether it was a dog treat or table scraps, he NEVER denies food! I scheduled Duke an appointment with a vet that was generous enough to squeeze us in last minute.

During the local vet visit, they did an X-ray to find that his bladder was obstructed, and they assumed it was full of bladder stones (a common health issue for the Dalmatian breed). They proceeded to put a catheter in, only for the catheter to get clogged. The local vet called vets around our area, as well as the surrounding area. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone was having emergency issues, and the closest vet for Duke to be seen at was 2.5 hours away, in Cary.
When I brought Duke to the vet in Cary I was given a round about estimate of his costs being anywhere from $2100 to $4100. After the vet visit in Jacksonville, I only had $2350 left on my Care Credit card, and this was after calling and asking for an increase in my credit limit. The vet saw Duke, and determined a catheter would be necessary, and surgery would be Monday, 5/9.

I called like crazy getting updates on our Duke, and the vet's office has been nothing but patient, caring and understanding towards my non-stop-calling. Only, for us to get an update on Sunday 5/8 that Duke's bladder has a small hole in it and is leaking urine into his abdomen. He would need emergency surgery that day, rather than waiting until Monday.
Duke has had his surgery, and everything went smoothly. He has been in high spirits, tail wagging, happy go lucky Duke that everyone who knows him knows. He has to stay at the vet until Wednesday evening (5/11) unless something else happens, then he'll be released at a later date. He currently has a catheter attached to help urine pass through, and to avoid inflaming his urethra.

This whole issue was something we were never expecting. Especially with Duke being the healthiest out of the three of our guys. Typically, if something were to happen that needed vet attention it would happen to our GSD!
Our wallets are torn inside out, and we have exhausted all other options to pay for Duke's procedure, which is why my last resort is to try to help raise money.
Duke has been in our lives since he was 8 weeks old, and we refuse to give up on him because of vet bills. We will do whatever it takes to make sure our Dukey boy gets back to our home, so we can spoil him again with love and he can spoil us back with his cuddles.

Duke is staying the the Animal Emergency Clinic of Cary, located on High House Road in Cary, NC.