For the love of Ted.

Hi, my name is Ted and my new owners, Callie and Will, are fundraising for me. I'm an 11 1/2 year old blue Weimaraner and I need help paying for my ear surgery. I was adopted on Saturday, March 23, 2024. They came and picked me up in their Volkswagen and took me home with them to meet Friedrich, another Weim, a young whippersnapper, a spazz, but...we're getting along okay, mainly because I'm not a spazz (although I am a little anxious and bark when Callie leaves). Will (a tall skinny guy from Maryland who makes really good fresh dog food and obsesses over whether or not I need to pee – I really wish he would just let me sleep on his side of the bed in peace...sigh) took me to the vet yesterday after they noticed some foul odors coming from my ears.

So I was at the vet for a couple of hours yesterday and all damn day today. By myself. in a cage. Then they gave me some drugs that knocked me out cold. I came to with my head perched in a cone like a boll of ice cream. I am tired, I look ridiculous, and my fricking ears hurt (in addition to cleaning the pus from both ears to clear the infection, the vet also found a growth in my left ear and had to remove it to send off for a biopsy. It cost these guys over $2,000 for my treatment so far and, well, I'm a dog. I don't have any money. I depend on humans for everything! So, I was hoping some of you might be able to chip in. If the biopsy comes back as cancer, I may need to have one of my ear canals removed, meaning more medical costs. But hopefully not! I am thinking positive thoughts. Living in the moment. Because I'm a dog. And that's how we do.

Five bucks, ten, twenty, fifty. Anything you can spare would be appreciated. It takes a village to love all the animals.

Love,

Ted

------------------

We adopted Ted this past weekend after seeing a post on Facebook from our good friend, Stephanie Horner (the breeder of our first three Weimaraners: Oslo (2004-2017), Mies (2004-2018), and Friedrich (2017-). She found Ted posted on Old Dog Haven. He is our fourth Weimaraner: we went into this adoption with eyes wide open, knowing that medical costs for older dogs can be significant. But we weren't expecting to experience them in his first days with us. While Old Dog Haven does cover vet bills for dogs placed with their network homes, Ted was listed as a referral and we're not one of their network homes, so he doesn't qualify for any of their funding. When we picked him up, the previous owner told us he had just finished ear medication treatment. But when we asked for the medication name, dosage, and vet records, we were given the run around. The long story short is that Ted is collateral damage from a divorce. What we gleaned from the brief interactions we had with the previous owner is this: the husband (a former pro baseball player for the Toronto Bluejays: his name provided upon request) got Ted as a puppy before they met. They marry, get divorced, and the ex-husband now has a new wife. The ex-wife took Ted after the divorce and the ex-husband told her he would pay for Ted's medical bills until she found someone to take him. We only interfaced with the ex-wife, but when we asked her to ask the ex-husband if he would cover Ted's medical costs, she said he declined.

I won't pass judgement here on Ted's obvious medical neglect (for a dog's ears to get this bad requires chronic, intentional neglect) or the fact that someone could discard a dog they've had since he was a puppy, abandoning him at a stage in his life when he needs loving, caring humans the most. I will only say that dogs are for life and he's with us for whatever time he has left. I may change the amount needed as we hear back from the vet about the biopsy and additional treatment if it is cancerous. But any amount pledged will be appreciated and if we raise beyond our goal, extra funds will be donated to Old Dog Haven with my employer's 100% match. Additionally, I will provide all medical records and receipts to be completely transparent about where any funds raised are going. He is being treated at South Seattle Veterinary Hospital by the same vet who prolonged our dog Mies's life by removing his tumorous spleen.

Humans don't deserve dogs. But Ted deserves basic medical care in his senior years. It takes a village to love a dog.

We appreciate your help.