Jax’s Medical Expenses

Hi, my name is Abbey Simon. My fiancé and I are dog parents to such a sweet and smart border collie named Jax. He is our 8 month old puppy, and he is our world. After a day of fun at the dog park, Jax fell very ill, began to have seizures, then shortly after, became unresponsive. We proceeded to rush him to the vet where we found out the devastating news that our boy now lay in critical condition at the emergency hospital.

On November 27, we spent a typical day at the dog park. He loves to fetch, so he was very active all day retrieving balls. After a few hours, we headed back home. Jax started to decline rapidly. He was unable to move, which we assumed maybe he was extremely tired from being active all day. We noticed he started breathing heavily, with a clenched jaw. A few moments later, he began seizing and was unresponsive. We took him to the vet where they saw his blood sugar was 20, his liver levels indicated acute failing, and his blood pressure was not stable.

We received the estimate for a cost of treatment where they were still undetermined what could be the cause of this, so they were unable to rule out anything. When we went to see him, we were informed he was in comatosis and was one level below death. However when he saw us and felt us, he opened his eyes and perked his ears. We proceeded with just 1 night of critical treatment and basic tests to try and determine what the cause could be, because that’s all we could afford at the moment. Within 4 hours, he was still unstable. They could not stabilize his blood sugar, blood pressure, urination, and temperature. We were at the point of having to pay thousands of dollars for continuous treatment or euthanize him.

When they called us back up there to see him though, we knew he still had the fighting chance. He responded to us, lifted his head, and placed it on us. We knew we couldn’t give up. Although there was still uncertainty with his case, the veterinarian informed us he had tested positive for antifreeze. However, the test could have false positives, and it doesn’t explain all of his symptoms. We decided to continue with treatment.

On the morning of November 28th, we received news that he’s doing remarkably better. He’s moving around and sitting on their laps; they said he was being the sweetest boy. While they’re still unsure of some of his symptoms aligning with antifreeze poisoning, he seems to be responding to treatment well.

The hospital expenses have wiped us out, and there is further treatment still needed. I refuse to give up on my dog. In the past 6 months he has been with us, he has made this time so cherible. He’s gotten to take on moving to Colorado with us, hiking up mountains, and giving our family so much joy every single day. It makes me sick that someone could’ve poisoned him at the dog park, where he loves to run around. I am sharing our story, because any help, whether it would be financially or sending prayers and positive thoughts, would really make the difference here. Thanks so much for taking the time to read this through.