Captain's Hang In There Fund
Donation protected
Hey guys!
I'll start by saying Captain is the prettiest & sweetest little girl in the whole world. She's been my best buddy since I was 17 years old. She was an unexpected gift from the world when I was on vacation in Eugene, Oregon. While sitting by the river, we saw a lady who had a trash bag full of 5 week old puppies and was attempting to toss them all in the river (not to worry though, we got all of the puppies to good homes, too). 10 years later and Captain has been by my side since!
This past Tuesday I was taking her on her morning walk and she poo'd bloody diarrhea, which was definitely alarming so I consulted Google. I was hoping it was a reaction to something she ate since she wasn't showing any signs of being sick/lethargic - totally ready to play, eat treats and her food with no problems.
When I got home from work on Wednesday, she came to say hi at the door and her left eye was completely filled with blood. Couldn't really see her pupil or anything, only a solid blood red covering her entire eye.
Matthew and I rushed to the emergency vet and they seemed alarmed at the sight which was a huge blow, I was hoping I'd be in and out with some medicine for her stomach and eyedrops.
After running a bunch of tests, they found out she has had contracted an autoimmune disease. She currently has zero platelets (which cause blood to clot) in her blood so she has been bleeding everywhere internally, including her eyes. The one area that hasn't been bleeding is her lungs which is good. When they shaved her stomach for the testing, they noticed she has bruising all over her body.
She's received a blood transfusion on Friday and is currently taking steroids to try and get her red blood cells up. By keeping her red blood cells up, we hope to keep her alive long enough so the steroids kick in and her platelet levels can go up. After further tests results came back, we found out this was caused by a bacterial infection transmitted by a tick called 'Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever'. All of the vets are shocked at this information since this is something we do not have here in Reno.
Money Stuff
So far, I've paid $4,500 for treatment with the help from my family and savings. Her daily vet cost is $1,000 which started on Friday and we're currently at $4,800 owed. She needs another blood transfusion which is $1,000. The trickiest part of this is they need full payments as we go. I've tried to setup a payment plan but that is something they don't offer, unfortunately.
As of right now, she's still hanging at the vet while we wait. Her odds are real low, but I'm super hopeful. After this crazy year with my mom passing away and other pretty tough life changes, Captain has been my rock; always right next to my side through all of it and I can't imagine losing her. Love this little girl more than anything :(
I've felt really uncomfortable putting all of this out there into the universe, especially asking for help. At this point, I've exhausted all my funds as well as help from my family - don't really know where else to turn. After talking to some friends, they brought up the idea of a Go Fund Me so I figured I'd give it shot!
Thanks so so much everyone for reading all this! If help with funding isn't an option, maybe you could put some good energy out there for Captain to pull through!
Thank you!!
Jonathan Hatjakes
I'll start by saying Captain is the prettiest & sweetest little girl in the whole world. She's been my best buddy since I was 17 years old. She was an unexpected gift from the world when I was on vacation in Eugene, Oregon. While sitting by the river, we saw a lady who had a trash bag full of 5 week old puppies and was attempting to toss them all in the river (not to worry though, we got all of the puppies to good homes, too). 10 years later and Captain has been by my side since!
This past Tuesday I was taking her on her morning walk and she poo'd bloody diarrhea, which was definitely alarming so I consulted Google. I was hoping it was a reaction to something she ate since she wasn't showing any signs of being sick/lethargic - totally ready to play, eat treats and her food with no problems.
When I got home from work on Wednesday, she came to say hi at the door and her left eye was completely filled with blood. Couldn't really see her pupil or anything, only a solid blood red covering her entire eye.
Matthew and I rushed to the emergency vet and they seemed alarmed at the sight which was a huge blow, I was hoping I'd be in and out with some medicine for her stomach and eyedrops.
After running a bunch of tests, they found out she has had contracted an autoimmune disease. She currently has zero platelets (which cause blood to clot) in her blood so she has been bleeding everywhere internally, including her eyes. The one area that hasn't been bleeding is her lungs which is good. When they shaved her stomach for the testing, they noticed she has bruising all over her body.
She's received a blood transfusion on Friday and is currently taking steroids to try and get her red blood cells up. By keeping her red blood cells up, we hope to keep her alive long enough so the steroids kick in and her platelet levels can go up. After further tests results came back, we found out this was caused by a bacterial infection transmitted by a tick called 'Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever'. All of the vets are shocked at this information since this is something we do not have here in Reno.
Money Stuff
So far, I've paid $4,500 for treatment with the help from my family and savings. Her daily vet cost is $1,000 which started on Friday and we're currently at $4,800 owed. She needs another blood transfusion which is $1,000. The trickiest part of this is they need full payments as we go. I've tried to setup a payment plan but that is something they don't offer, unfortunately.
As of right now, she's still hanging at the vet while we wait. Her odds are real low, but I'm super hopeful. After this crazy year with my mom passing away and other pretty tough life changes, Captain has been my rock; always right next to my side through all of it and I can't imagine losing her. Love this little girl more than anything :(
I've felt really uncomfortable putting all of this out there into the universe, especially asking for help. At this point, I've exhausted all my funds as well as help from my family - don't really know where else to turn. After talking to some friends, they brought up the idea of a Go Fund Me so I figured I'd give it shot!
Thanks so so much everyone for reading all this! If help with funding isn't an option, maybe you could put some good energy out there for Captain to pull through!
Thank you!!
Jonathan Hatjakes
Organizer
Jonathan Hatjakes
Organizer
Reno, NV