Help Angus Fight The Big C ❤️‍

**UPDATE**

They have attributed the majority of his symptoms to vestibular disease, which they are managing well with antibiotics. However on some of his imaging, they detected a mass on Angus’s epiglottis. A FNA biopsy of that mass showed cancer cells. The problem is that his body is too weak and inflamed to be able to get back to the mass for a larger sample, much less begin treatment. They are sending him home with us for two weeks to heal, and at his check up with neuro she will be admitting him for another stay ❤️‍ this time with the soft tissue / oncology department - they will take his treatment over from there.

We are nowhere near out of the woods. But happy to have this little reprieve ❤️‍

*original post below*

Hi Friends ❤️

First and foremost, thank you. The amount of support, concern, and prayer that has poured in since yesterday has been so incredibly overwhelming. How lucky are we to be able to care for a dog who has spread SO much joy and love to so many different lives. We had originally agreed not to crowd fund this.. we just didn’t feel right about it. But as the requests of how to help continued to pile up just as quickly as the bills have, we decided to open this up. We want to be clear that we are making this GoFundMe, NOT because he will not receive proper care without it - we will pay every bit of it ourselves out of pocket before we allow him to receive less than he deserves - but because so many of you have asked and offered your support, it feels wrong of us to deny that help. But please, do not feel like you NEED to donate, or that something bad will happen to him if we don’t hit our “goal”. This is just for anyone who loves Angus / our little family and wants to show their support by making the financial burden of this nightmare a little bit lighter. Literally any amount helps. We love you all, and are grateful to you for every level of kindness and support you have shown. ❤️❤️❤️

Here is a recap of the medical events that have happened with him over the last few days, for anyone who is curious to know…

As some of you have already seen, we have been back and forth from the vet for Angus since last week about what we were told was a pulled muscle in his leg. That lameness never left, and two days ago he began to shake- indicating that the pain had escalated- which led to him receiving a fentanyl patch from our vet that same day. The shaking continued, and 12 hours after the patch was placed on him, he woke up from a nap into an EXTREMELY adverse and negative reaction. He was screaming in pain, his pupils were dilated differently, his face was half hanging and half expressive, and he had very labored, panicked breathing. He looked like he was having a very painful stroke. We immediately removed the patch and took him to the ER where his symptoms got better enough that we took him home and he slept sound. The next afternoon when being re-evaluated by his regular vet, he tipped over randomly onto his face. He began not being able to walk correctly, falling over, and then not even being able to stand. His back legs went completely limp. An X-ray of his back sent him screaming in pain again and showed several “smashed” vertebras, so much so that the vet refused to take any more and in a panic said we need to get him to a neurologist “NOW”. (Plot twist, that damage in his back happened a long time ago and it may or may not have anything to do with what is causing him pain today) She gave him a shot for pain while we tried to set up a transfer, and this is when things got really bad. Shortly after the injection he had what looked to me like a seizure; convulsions, rapid eye movements, a SEVERE head tilt, and was screaming in pain again. His anxiety spiked his breathing so fast that his throat started closing up, and we thought we were going to lose him. Thankfully we got him back to the ER in time where they were able to get and keep him stable overnight. We were able to pick him up and drive him to UPenn to see their neurology team today. They are keeping him there - sedated, running tests, MRIs and fluid samples of his spine & brain - now and tomorrow to find out what the problem is.

Right now they cannot determine if his partial paralysis, loss of motor skills, and aversion to narcotics and other symptoms are from a more progressed or degenerative spinal disease (he’s had IVDD as a puppy, but hasn’t had a flare up in five years) or a vestibular disease of the central nervous system - OR a combination of both. Of those two options, one has a generally positive prognosis and can be treated with medication, and the other is very much the opposite, & a very scary immediate future for all of us. We are also looking for tumors and lesions in his brain and spine (also v bad options).

The low end of the estimate for this testing and hospitalization was $10,000. The high end was closer to $20K - and that is subject to continue to climb. A big big problem we are facing is that because he had a flare up of IVDD when he was a pup (before I got him on an insurance policy) this entire issue is almost guaranteed to be considered pre-existing and therefore ineligible for any coverage.

He has shown very little improvement of his symptoms so far, outside of the sedation allowing him to be comfortable. The doctors today seemed hopeful, which was great. We’re just so blown away that he is even still here. And I know that is a testament to how resilient and otherwise healthy he is. But there is still so much unknown and so many different ways this can go. We will continue to update everyone as we find more out, and will answer questions as we are able.

thank you; we love you ❤️