I’ve never wanted to do this. But I’m asking not for me, but for my dog who is so much better than me in every way. The cliche saying “we don’t deserve dogs” is 100% true. Anyone who has ever met Zoey has told me she’s special. She has the sweetest soul and she deserves the world and seeing her in pain is heartbreaking. She’s helped me through the hardest time of my life this year. The 5.5 years we’ve spent together so far have been amazing.

As some of you know, Zoey had her first herniated disc in April. It happened out of no where, she yelped really loudly, and then she couldn’t walk anymore. After an entire day in the vet ER we were given painkillers and told to drop her off on Monday night to be seen by the neurologist. That Tuesday she had surgery. Since then she has been recovering well. She regained the ability to walk, not perfectly like before, with an occasional wobble, but all was well.

Until a few weeks ago when something happened. I looked down at her and she was convulsing, and rigid, and wasn’t responding to me… It was terrifying, she looked and felt dead. Another emergency vet visit where the ER vet gave her a new dose of gabapentin for the pain, then a follow-up neurology appointment two weeks later.

That brings us to last Thursday. Her neurologist, an amazing vet called Dr Paquette, was very upset to see her again… and even more upset to report to me after examining her that Zoey has another slipped disc. This time, in her neck. Which explains her pain and her “hunched” demeanor and why she keeps lifting her two front paws. She says the odds of this happening again were very very low and that Zoey is, and I quote “very very VERY unlucky” :(

Now Zoey is back on more gabapentin, with muscle relaxants and steroids. She did well on Friday, but yesterday and today she is taking a turn for the worse. I have a very hard decision to make. Another surgery… or keep watching her suffer like this? I can’t even consider the third option. I don’t know what to do. I was told in April by some friends to start a GoFundMe… At this point, I’ve got nothing to lose. My pride isn’t worth Zoey’s pain. I know that at the end of the day, I will make the best decision for her. And at this time, it’s surgery.

Thank you for reading. <3