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I’m Mel and the owner of sweet Leela.
Leela is a 2.5 year old chihuahua mix who is such a sweet and timid gal (I know a rarity for a small dog) everyone that meets her immediately falls in love with her. However, she isn’t doing too hot right now. She presented with what I thought was some sort of mouth pain Friday evening and I was concerned enough that I brought her into the vet for a same day visit on Saturday when she began refusing food. She would not let them look in her mouth so I was sent home with pain meds and antibiotics thinking it was maybe an abscess and once the pain was under control she’d be more cooperative for the vets.
By Sunday her pain had escalated and when you touched her stomach she would nip at you, which was a rarity for her, so I brought her back to the vet and she’s stayed there since.
So far she has
- undergone sedation to get a look in her mouth which showed mild gingivitis and slightly swollen tonsils.
- her blood work came back with a slightly elevated white blood cell count, but everything else was great
- she has no fever
- she had an X-ray done which showed no broken bones or foreign objects in her digestive tract. But it did show that her stomach is distended, which is cause for concern
- her team of vets followed up with an ultrasound which didn’t show any obvious signs of blockage, but there was some shadows in her stomach which could be as harmless as gas bubbles or a potential foreign object or growth/malformation of some form.
- they recommended surgery and when they attempted it she reacted negatively to the anesthesia and we almost lost her, so they quickly stabilized her, closed her up and did not continue on with the surgery.
The chances of this resolving on its own is slim and even tho she’s currently stable and admitted to the vet for IV pain meds, antibiotics, and fluids time is of the essence.
They’re recommending I take her to the vet school in PEI, which is the only location in Atlantic Canada close to me that has an actual anesthesiologist and would also be able to give her a CT scan to get a better idea of what’s going on as she is puzzling the vets here as all other tests show she is a “healthy” 2.5 year old dog.
The problem with this is I’m in Nova Scotia and the vet school is quite expensive and will cost between $5,000-$10,000 assuming it’s just the surgery and testing, but more may need to be done. There is also a risk that we could lose her before she makes it there or even during surgery as well. If we do nothing though that’s guarantee that she would not survive.
I have already spent $4,700 on my own through maxxing my credit card and using an award I won through my university last week, but I’m at my limit. I’m a full time student and single mom who survives off student loans. I graduate in April and will be working then but that doesn’t help the current situation. I don’t have any wiggle room financially to pay for this, but I also don’t want to not try. So I’m asking for help, I’m not one to ask for help and I know a lot of people are experiencing financial hardships right now so I feel bad for even asking, but I have to at least try.
Besides my kids, Leela is one of the reasons I get up every morning and since January she has taken over her brothers job of helping to keep my depression in check, as we had to say goodbye to her brother in January after a 2 year and 3 month battle with IVDD. She hopefully still has a long life ahead of her, if this can get sorted.
If you could donate or even just share this would be very kind and helpful. If her vet bills come out less than what is raised for donation, I will donate the rest to the local SPCA. Any help is appreciated.