Cash & June Corgi Need Your Help!

This is Cash and June. Uncle and niece. Furbabies to their mom, Mallory. And this sweet trio needs your help to navigate the perfect storm they unfortunately find themselves in.

As Mallory's sister, it is absolutely heartbreaking to watch her go through this on her own. I am hoping to help her manage this tragic situation as much as possible from thousands of miles away.

Cash

After over 6 months of treating loose and bloody stool with various foods and antibiotics (otherwise a healthy happy boy), mom requested imaging. Their family vet conducted an ultrasound and found a suspicious mass near his colon. This spurred a referral on November 2nd to the VCA Specialty Group in San Diego. Luckily, we were able to snag an appointment on November 3rd for additional diagnostics to include a CT scan, full blood panels, and a cytology panel of cells collected from the general area with a needle extraction.

On November 7th, the results came back with several oncologists agreeing that the cells indicated adenocarcinoma with a mass that has grown around his colon. We were recommended surgery immediately as it has not metastasized and appears to be slow growing. The surgery is a full rectal resection of the cancer and poses a high risk of infection and the potential of not being able to remove all cancerous tissue. He completed his surgery on November 29th and will be hospitalized for at least two days to monitor him for any risk of infection. The vet is cautiously optimistic at this point and that is what we are holding onto.

June

On the evening of November 20th, June appeared lethargic and began vomiting half-digested food. She is typically a very quiet sweet girl but this was noticeable. She refused food but was drinking water. On the 21st she could not keep water down and appeared to be declining in her behavior and ability to walk. We took her to the same VCA specialty group in their ER clinic for an evaluation. This was in the evening during Thanksgiving week and required on call radiologists and technicians to be brought in to evaluate her. The fees associated were high but we knew she was suffering. It was determined via ultrasound that she had a small potato in her stomach that was not digesting and causing inflammation. The internal medicine veterinarian gave the option to immediately conduct a endoscopy procedure to break up the potato with a scope and allow it to be digested naturally without surgical intervention. The risk was pneumonia.

After the procedure, it was discovered that June had regurgitated and aspirated which unfortunately resulted in her developing pneumonia. On November 21st she was admitted into the ICU and has been fighting for her life since then. As of November 28th she has underwent multiple days of pressurized oxygen treatments to keep her oxygen levels high enough to fight the pneumonia. She has also received a gastronomy tube to provide her nutrition while she is either sedated or in such labored breathing that she refused to eat normally. June has shown significant improvement and has been able to be off oxygen altogether but still refuses food.

A final complication we are battling is pancreatitis and requires the same treatment as her pneumonia. She is improving significantly and we hope she will eat and come home within the next two days. She is displaying her sweet personality and we have all the hope she will make a full recovery.

If you take anything away from this, please please PLEASE keep small potatoes away from your pups. Even fully cooked, if they do not pierce the skin and it remains intact, it will not digest naturally and will need medical intervention to remove/pass.

Bills

The current bill for both pups is standing at $37,100 if Cash doesn’t need any extra overnight stays and June comes home within the next 1-2 days. Mom has carried insurance for both Cash and June but even after maxing out annual limits, there will still be approximately $22,100 out of pocket to cover Cash and June’s critical care if insurance comes through. This does not include post op visits and possible treatment needed later down the road. This bill will also increase by $3,000 every extra night they stay. We would like to try and cover the worst case scenario to give mom peace of mind.

June’s emergency and Cash’s cancer diagnosis and high risk surgery has been more than overwhelming to say the least. Mom is doing everything she possibly can to keep her furbabies alive. They are her world and she theirs.

We would appreciate any donation or kind words you would like to offer. Thank you for taking the time to read their story.

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