Please Help (Us Help) Lucille Breathe! Chapter 2

**JUNE 2025 update **

Lucille has laryngeal paralysis - her airway is barely open. So, when she gets upset or hot and pants, her throat inflames and she can’t breathe.

Last week, she had a terrifying episode. She was hyperventilating, her tongue turned blue, and we rushed her to the ER. One vet told us to put her down. We pushed for more steroids and time.

She pulled through.

The morning vet asked if she came from an Amish puppy mill. We’ve suspected it. She said this kind of throat damage is common in dogs “debarked” in those places — they shove things down their throats to make barking painful. It tracks. We’re gutted.

** Scar from abuse of debarking or her jaw being wired shut to silence her **

We are utterly horrified that our sweet Lucille endured such treatment.

So we have three options: we can put her down, ignore it and let her one day suffocate or get another operation.

We clearly opted for the operation.

We’ve scheduled tie-back surgery — a procedure that has helped many dogs with this condition breathe somewhat normally - for next Monday, June 23, 2025. It will cost between $4500-6000. Insurance won’t touch it; it’s preexisting. We’re still paying off her last surgery, and the ER bill added another $2700. We’re rounding up to $12k to cover it all. That’s a severe underestimation.

If you’re able to help, we’d be deeply grateful. We are determined to give her the life she deserves

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We adopted Lucille in March 2024 from our local humane society. She had been rescued from a puppy mill where she spent the first three + years of her life being bred. She was living under a house fenced in with a dirt floor. This is her rescue photo.

Her goofy smile and cute little snort charmed us.

She was tested with spicy cats and passed(!), so we returned the next day to bring her home in the pouring rain.

But, the snorts and grunts were more than cute. They were from a birth defect rarely seen in a dog her size, breed or with her facial structure- an elongated soft palate. We guess this is why she was chosen early on to be bred rather than sold.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A VIDEO of

Lucille from adoption to operation

The more we learned, we understood her quality of life was extremely limited because she can not breathe well and often would go into almost breathing convulsions. She also is very easily overheated as she can’t regulate her body temperature. We keep an ice pad in the freezer for her and take it with us everywhere.

Summer was obviously so difficult and it posed other dangers. Bees.

In August, she was stung by a few bees while investigating a rodedendrum. Her already compromised airway inflamed and she went into anaphylactic shock. We rushed her to our vet and she nearly died, actually stopped breathing on the table while they worked on her. Thankfully, she was intubated and survived. We rushed to buy epi pens for her.

After that episode, she stopped breathing several times in the middle of the night.

We had inquired about surgery after adoption. The price tag was steep - Jill has called about 6 places all referred by our vet and the range was between $5000 to over $10k.

Not that we would have changed our minds but, when we adopted her, we did not realize this condition would both so affect her quality of life nor be so expensive to remedy.

As many of you know, we have been on a multi year journey with our lives finding a safe place for us to live due to our health issues while dealing with said health issues. To be frank, we have had to stop down on many things to complete our home because we simply have run out of money. And while we are not starving or penniless, we are older with aforementioned health issues (plus Jill just had a full knee replacement after cataract surgery earlier this year) so are trying to save for the day when work is no longer a possibility for one or both of us. With the debt we have for the house and our health, dropping $5k+ is not affordable despite how much we want to help Lucille.

So we put it off… but after the sting and choking, we couldn’t make her suffer any longer. Mid November we pulled the trigger and went to VESH in MA.

They were beyond magnificent. Lucille was kept overnight and even got her own oxygen tank.

Unfortunately her breathing became concerning a few days in and we returned in the middle of the night (VESH is both an ER and 1.5 hrs away) and she was stabilized. 

And while her breathing isn’t perfect, she is recovering nicely. She has thickened nasopharynx tissue, an inoperable condition discovered during the surgery, which contribute to her breathing difficulties. So, she still snores and happy to say she vocalizes with her grunts and snorts.

When I posted about this on FB earlier this summer, many people reached out to say they would be willing to help us help Lucille. So, we are following up with that ask.

How we came up with the ask.

Surgery itself including overnight, oxygen tank, etc.: $5547.55.

Other costs: ER/ mreturn to vesh with breathing scare 2 nights post surgery $230.39.

Diagnosis plus bee sting /anaphylaxis revival: about $600.

Epi pens: $300.

We have a history of adopting “unadoptables”. We love to give animals homes who others reject. Many of you will remember Tobe, our FIV+, blind feral tabby who we lost earlier this year to cancer. You can see the tumor that sprouted overnight in this pic.

We are limited with what we can afford so, for now ;), only have three. We want to give any creature we bring into our home the best life possible.

Our poor girl has suffered so much and you are helping us give her the life she deserves. 

For Lucille, this operation changed the quality of her life. Thank you for helping us do that ❤️❤️❤️

UPDATE 12/30/2024

We saw her vet today for a follow up and because she has been limping. She was thrilled to see her breathing progress! But, Lucille has a torn ACL probably due to years of neglect. So, as soon as her recovery is complete and she loses a few pounds, that will be next! Hopefully the pet insurance we have will cover most of that.