Help us save our dog, Chester!
Donation protected
Six months ago, my husband and I adopted a 6 year old Shiba Inu named Chester. We quickly learned that he is one of the best behaved and friendliest Shibas around - even the vets and vet techs tell us he is the nicest Shiba they've seen. Within a few days he wouldn't leave our side and he's been bringing us joy and laughter ever since.
He was completely healthy as far as anyone could tell at the time we adopted him but shortly after his health started to deteriorate. We went through several possible causes including food and seasonal allergies. His right eye had sunken back into its socket and teared constantly. Then his third eyelid closed about halfway and hasn't gone back down in all this time. He's been diagnosed as hypothyroid, but that doesn't seem to be the extent of the problem because he continues to be shaky, feverish off-and-on, lethargic, and he's not eating. He also seems to have some sort of pain in his neck/back but he's a very stoic dog and identifying the exact location of the pain has been challenging.
Without going through the entire story - it's a long one - we have been to the vet about 12 times in six months and spent close to $1,000. We had 3 weeks with a healthy dog and the poor thing has been suffering on some level ever since. Our vet thinks we need to see a neurologist for possible Horner's Syndrome. That costs $170 and does not include any additional testing or imaging the neurologist might want to do or treatment for whatever is going on.
We can't say, "Chester needs x operation or y medication" and we are at our limit as to what we can afford at this time. My husband is a grad student and I work as a freelance illustrator, so things are generally tight and we just weren't prepared for this level of expense so quickly after having adopted a seemingly healthy dog.
Anything helps. We absolutely do not want to give him up - we fell in love with him right away - but that may be our only option if we can't get him the help he needs. We are immensely grateful for any donation you can make and you would be insuring that Chester will be able to stay in a home where he is loved and gets all of the attention.
A million thanks.
He was completely healthy as far as anyone could tell at the time we adopted him but shortly after his health started to deteriorate. We went through several possible causes including food and seasonal allergies. His right eye had sunken back into its socket and teared constantly. Then his third eyelid closed about halfway and hasn't gone back down in all this time. He's been diagnosed as hypothyroid, but that doesn't seem to be the extent of the problem because he continues to be shaky, feverish off-and-on, lethargic, and he's not eating. He also seems to have some sort of pain in his neck/back but he's a very stoic dog and identifying the exact location of the pain has been challenging.
Without going through the entire story - it's a long one - we have been to the vet about 12 times in six months and spent close to $1,000. We had 3 weeks with a healthy dog and the poor thing has been suffering on some level ever since. Our vet thinks we need to see a neurologist for possible Horner's Syndrome. That costs $170 and does not include any additional testing or imaging the neurologist might want to do or treatment for whatever is going on.
We can't say, "Chester needs x operation or y medication" and we are at our limit as to what we can afford at this time. My husband is a grad student and I work as a freelance illustrator, so things are generally tight and we just weren't prepared for this level of expense so quickly after having adopted a seemingly healthy dog.
Anything helps. We absolutely do not want to give him up - we fell in love with him right away - but that may be our only option if we can't get him the help he needs. We are immensely grateful for any donation you can make and you would be insuring that Chester will be able to stay in a home where he is loved and gets all of the attention.
A million thanks.
Organizer
Michelle Kondrich
Organizer
Denver, CO
