Bucks for Brucie

In his short 7.5 years of life, Bruce has managed to become EVERYONE'S dog. He is the life of the party, the cutest 77lb ball of cuteness, and the destroyer of wild bunnies. With the exception of the occasional consumption of copious amounts of chocolate (and other items he should not be ingesting), Brucie has led a relatively healthy life, and vet bills (until now) have been somewhat manageable.

Unfortunately, in March 2025, Brucie was rushed to the emergency vet after he became incredibly sick one night, and by the early morning, was barely moving. :'( Once at the vet, they found that he had a large amount of fluid in his abdomen, and his spleen had erupted. I received the worst news possible--Brucie was in bad shape, and it was either do surgery right away to remove his spleen (and test for cancer), or put him down right then.

It was the hardest decision of my life--the odds were terrible--they told me that there was a good chance his tumor was cancerous, and if it was--it was a 90% chance that it was hemangiosarcoma, which would give him a 6 month prognosis (with surgery) at best. But, Brucie was my best friend--and in that moment, I didn't hesitate, and I elected to do what would later turn into a $10k+ surgery and hospital stay.

Thankfully, that was the right decision--although it hasn't been easy. The first few days were rough. Brucie was found to have undiagnosed (and out of control) diabetes, with a blood sugar of 700+ when we brought him into the ER. He was also severely anemic, had lost a TON of blood, had extremely low blood pressure, and low sodium/high potassium. We didn't know if he was even going to make it home :(

But God was watching over Brucie, and with the careful expertise of his vets at Eastern Penn, he has made nothing short of a MIRACULOUS recovery. After the biopsy results came back, we received great news--even though his tumor in his spleen was cancerous, it was a lower grade tumor and was not hemaniosarcoma (but instead was a type of cancer called Splenic Stromal Sarcoma), which meant he was given a much better life expectancy for 2+ years on average <3

That being said, even with the miraculous recovery, Brucie is not out of the woods yet. Bruce has been requiring regular check ups with all 3 of his specialists for oncology, internal medicine (for his Cushings/Diabetes/pancreatitis), and now for his ophthalmologist (now that he has developed cataracts last month and is going blind). Just from his vet bills alone this year from January til now, I have spent nearly $15k and gone into significant debt for this. This is not even taking into account his monthly meds and prescription specialized food he is on now, due to his recently diagnosed pancreatitis, chronic UTIs, Cushing's, and largely insulin-resistant diabetes (which is averaging $500+ a month), in addition to follow-up vet appointments, ultrasounds, and labs (averaging $500-700 each appt).

I have always been stubborn and wanted to do things on my own--but one thing I've learned this past March is that I CAN'T do it alone--and I am NOT alone. I am so grateful to many of my friends, family, and neighbors who have reached out in support of Bruce. After hearing about the astronomical costs of his surgeries and vet bills just from this year alone, many of you have encouraged me to make this GoFundMe, and I am thankful for your support.

I have always felt bad about asking for money, especially as I know money is tight for many of us--but as I was reminded by a few people, "This is not for you--this is for Bruce. Your village is here to help you support Bruce, and ensure that he continues to receive the best care." I am humbled by this, and promise that I will continue to do everything in my power to provide Brucie with access to the best medical care, all of the sugar-free diet treats that the good boy deserves, and lots of love and pets. Every dollar raised for Brucie will go straight to his on-going medical costs, and monthly medicines. Thank you all for your support of Brucie, and ensuring that we have many more funny Brucie adventures to come <3