Please Help Dachshund Puppy Frankie to Breathe!

Please help sweet Frankie.

Frankie had a freak accident and was strangled by his collar on Saturday, July 6th. He needs oxygen and multiple days of care staying in the ICU.

About Frankie…

Frankie is my 6-month-old, perfect miniature dachshund. After my sweet 14-year-old Henry passed in December, I was gutted, and swore I would not get another dog. We know how that turns out, and on March 1st, I brought Frankie home. He has helped to heal my heart and is such a sweet and loving boy.

I am asking for help because his care is going to be much more than I can financially handle as a single woman and Frankie is my heart.

What happened to Frankie?

I was heading to a birthday party with a friend. I put Frankie in his car seat and started driving. We stopped at a red light and I heard what I thought was him jumping out of his seat, which he has never done. When I looked back, I saw him trapped between the back seat and the car door. My friend quickly jumped out and opened the door where we discovered his leash, that I had left attached to his collar, was hanging out the door while we were driving. When we stopped, the leash got caught under the tire and pulled him out of his seat, pinning him against the door and essentially strangling him with his collar. He was very scared and within a minute was coughing blood. My friend jumped in the driver's seat and immediately headed to Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital about 10-15 minutes away. I held him and tried to calm him as much as I could, but he was coughing foamy blood, having trouble breathing and lost control of his bowels.

Frankie’s Care…

When we got to DL, they brought him right in, took x-rays and put him in a crate with concentrated oxygen. The x-rays showed severe pulmonary edema (fluid in his lungs), but no obvious damage to his spine/neck. Now it’s just a waiting game. He is working hard to breathe and using his whole body. He will stay in the oxygen crate as long as he stays the same. The danger is he can go into respiratory fatigue/exhaustion where his little body will just get too tired to keep breathing. If that happens he will need high flow oxygen or intubation with a ventilator (worst case). If he starts to improve, they will gradually decrease the concentration of oxygen in his little enclosure and try to ween him off slowly.

He is pretty sedated so he doesn’t exert himself and can just use all his energy to breathe.

I got to go back later to bring his blanket and a t-shirt of mine, since he will need to stay in the ICU for now. He wagged his tail, but I couldn’t hold him or touch him because the crate needs to stay closed for the concentrated oxygen to stay in.

I want to save my little man and have already put down $4000 from my savings. The financial coordinator just called and said his continued care will be $1600 per 24 hours! He will be there for at least 2 more days in the ICU on oxygen therapy, MINIMUM.

I am panicking about how much this will cost in total. He’s just a baby. My baby. Reaching out is hard, please help.