Bring Achilles Home

Hello.

 Below is the original Fund-raiser information.

Unfortunately, Achilles just could not stay with us.  He passed swiftly when it was done.

This fund-raiser is now to pay his outstanding bills and bring his ashes home.

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Achilles is in the hospital. Due to, pretty entirely, throwing his head around like an idiot, he managed to injure himself in the neck so severely, he needs surgery.

He is, however, an excellent candidate, with a 75% chance of full recovery, described as 'healthy, very healthy.'

The injury has been described as one normally kills dogs at half the severity. And also that his injury is 'presenting dramatically', becauseofcourseitis. And finally, not one they usually see outside of small dogs. Why small dogs? Because LARGE dogs his age are normally quite calm, lazy, and laconic.

All money, every cent, will go to Achilles and his on-going care. Any money raised in excess of this amount will go towards things like a nice fancy doggie bed for him, and some carpeting so he doesn't slide around so much, food, meds, the like. Accountability for all money will be transparent and available at request.

He misses everyone. All of you. And he wants to come home and see all of you.

Help him come home.

(seriously, he is crying so much they have to burp him, they don't understand he is CAPTAIN CO-DEPENDENT and needs pats.)

UPDATE:

On request, the Vet at ARH Brisbane gave me a more complete, medically sound statement:

"Achilles has disc-associated caudal cervical spondylomyelopathy, also known as Wobbler disease. This condition is most frequently found in Dobermanns. Two of his intervertebral discs at the base of his neck (location C5-C6 and C6-C7) have ruptured and are compressing his spinal cord (see yellow arrows below). The spinal cord compression is preventing him from being able to move his legs, leaving him tetraplegic. Surgery would remove the ruptured discs (discectomy) thereby decompressing his spinal cord. We would the fuse this area of his spine by securing bone plates to the region (distraction-fusion). As discussed with Lance on Monday, the success rate is normally high for dogs with this condition (approximately 95%). However, we have not operated on a dog as severely affected as Achilles, meaning we cannot be as certain of his outlook. All things considered, we feel he has a 70 – 75% likelihood of being able to stand and walk again following surgery and many weeks of hospitalisation. We are all set to perform surgery when you are able but encourage you to continue to consider whether pursuing surgery is the right thing for him. Unfortunately, the only other alternative is euthanasia to end his suffering. As previously discussed, the cost of his care will approach $15,000 - $20,000. As always, please feel free to contact me at the hospital (3172 0593) to discuss his care further. Regards, -Jarrod Drew"

...but.  There it is. He -does- have a brain.