As our family and many friends now know, our baby boy Brutus has been undergoing some skin allergy issues and abscesses for the past year. Last week he developed an abscess that overtook his entire paw. We took him to his regular vet, on Friday, who he has seen for the past 4 years and she gave us antibiotics. By Saturday his paw swelled up twice the size in that time and by Sunday night the swelling had traveled up his leg and things were looking worse.

We took him to Advance Vet Services on Monday morning and did blood work and we were told he had three times the normal amount of white blood cell count and he underwent emergency surgery to cut out the dead tissue and skin and quell the infection in his leg.

We were told that after surgery he would have an intense recovery process if he was to survive.

We knew how expensive taking him to the emergency vet was going to cost and we were comfortable enough to financially afford the first part of his surgery and treatment, but as things progress it’s getting hard for us to keep up. Zach and I both work so hard and are fortunate to have some savings, but Bru is going to require constant care for the foreseeable future.

All of the options we were given to save him cost a lot of money.

As of today, we have decided to amputate his leg and we are now burdened with that cost on top of everything else we have already been financially responsible up until now. As much as this breaks our hearts to consider this, we want to save our dogs life and this seems to be the best option for him to be able to stay with us. We are not people who have an easy time asking for help but we love Brutus so much and will do anything we can to help him. We are leaning on our friends, community and loved ones now more than ever during this extremely difficult time.

When I tell you this dog is my whole world, I mean it. I know he is a big dog and they have shorter life expectancy but he’s only 5 years old, he’s barely in kindergarten! He has so much more life in him and I am not ready to lose him. His spirit and soul are purer and softer than most people I know. When you look into his eyes, you see that he is way more than just a dog. I don’t even need to explain this to anyone who has spent a minute with him. He has touched so many people, people who don’t even like dogs he has won over. This dog has gotten me through some of the hardest things I’ve dealt with in my life and he deserves every fighting chance.

Please if you aren’t financially able to donate please share our posts, gofundme, prayers, healing vibes, and love to him.

Love Liz, Zach, and Brutus aka Snuggy Daniels