Boba Fett’s gastric shutdown surgery

If you found yourself here it’s probably because you’re an animal lover. Which puts me in good company because I am an animal lover as well. Boba Fett just so happens to be my best friend. He was found abandoned in an empty fenced in lot in June of 2015… Right around the time I was finally finding myself in a mental place i guess that I thought was mature enough to finally take on a fur-ever friend. So I went where any new animal lover goes to find a friend. Craigslist, hahahaha! I specifically set out looking for ANYTHING but a “Pit Bull”, but I clicked on a link that said “Staffy Mutt” and his brown eye spot reeled me in the second I saw him. His temp home did their due diligence and screened me after letting me meet him, and we waited 3 days for them to approve me. They sent me pictures of him standing at the door crying daily, saying he hadn’t stopped since I left. When we finally saw each other again it was game over. We were literally inseparable. He was allowed to come to work with me (I worked at an upscale jewelry store at the time, so it was a big deal), we ate together, we slept together, and we adventured together. Kayaking, camping, swimming: you name it and Boba Fett was right there with me. He even joined my new family. My now wife and I met 4 years ago and she had two young boys and an old grumpy Lab who wanted nothing to do with either of us. But they let Boba and I into their world (albeit begrudgingly for Raider), and Boba Fett loved all his new brothers and mom! We even had a baby of our own, and Boba Fett was the first one to meet the baby when it came home from the hospital. Before the boys and Raider even. I guess where this is going is that Boba Fett is my family. He’s been my ride or die for 7 years. He’s helped me herd kids, and scare away bad guys. He’s been there for me when I am sad or sick. He’s the actual best creature to have ever roamed this planet.

On Saturday 1/7/23 Boba Fett started acting super lethargic. Early evening he started dry heaving and eventually that lead to bile vomiting. Light and sporadic at first. But by midnight he would drink an entire bowl of water and after a few minutes he would unload the same whole bowl of water. We couldn’t afford the ER upfront costs so we stayed up all night with him and found him an appointment at a very well reviewed Veterinary Clinic where they were able to get him in and X-ray him immediately. The X-rays didn’t have any definitive answers, but the blood work, symptoms, and behavior all led to obstruction of the intestines. We left him over night to let him give him fluids and do more X-rays. In the morning he was still barfing and unable to hold anything down, and the X-rays appeared to show a foreign object so we opted to do surgery to remove it. This is where it got strange. They could not find the item in the X-ray. Two vets went front to back over his intestines and it simply vanished. But. They found spots of black/green (infection?) on his very swollen discolored spleen, and they realized his intestines weren’t functioning at all. There was zero muscle movement throughout his entire intestinal line. He was his own blockage essentially. They recommended we biopsy the spleen

 as they fear the discoloration could be pre-cancerous, so we agreed as we may be able to get ahead of something before it becomes unfixable. Boba Fett was released on 1/10/23 and came home with a boat load of medications, a foot long scar down his gut, and an even bigger vet bill.

My wife and I both work State jobs and still have to work side jobs to give ourselves and our 3 kids the safety, enrichment, and comfort that is deserved for 2 people working 4 jobs. With daycare for the toddler, a teenager with a hollow leg, and automotive/gas expenses to keep our vehicles safe and running; the $3000 vet bill is crippling. I will happily work another part time job but I’m already working two and missing out on a lot of time with my kids, and a third is only going to exacerbate the situation. I have never been one to ask for help because I have always been able to earn or work my way through things, but this is more than I’ve had to figure out financially before and if my credit gets crippled by this then it hurts my family's future too.

i know $3,000 is a lot for most people so even a little bit would go so very far. We are only 11 days into the Year but I will not let this shape or define the remaining 353. 2023 will be a year of triumph and adventure, not loss, destitution and sadness.

Thank you so so much,

Bobas best friend- Cody