My fur child, Delilah, aka Delley Mae, is my best friend and adventure buddy.  Well in mid-January,  she tore her cruciate ligament playing fetch in the backyard. Turns out being 5 years old means she isn't as young as she used to be. Since then, her back left leg is lame, she's getting around on three legs, and we can't get up to any of our adventures. While this is a common injury in dogs her size, it can only be fixed with a spendy surgery. It must be performed by a veterinary orthopedic surgeon. The funds I'm hoping to raise would allow me to pay for the surgery so my fur child can regain the use of all four legs and go for a run on the beach again. Ideally, I would get her the surgery within a few weeks to a month, but saving up of money may mean it waits a bit longer. 



Delilah has been the light of my life and my best friend since I got her at 8 weeks old. She and I are inseparable, no matter where my career has taken me. We started our loving little life together in Oregon and Washington, then we moved to California to start my PhD in wildlife health which led to the biggest and most adventurous move yet, to Tasmania, Australia. Which was stressful and expensive, but totally worth it. We've been loving and exploring Tasmania for nearly the past two years now. Finishing the PhD was extremely trying, stressful and overall miserable except for Delilah, she has helped me get through some very tough times with her enthusiasm and unconditional love, and I am doing my best to repay the favor.


About a month ago I took a trip back to the US to finish my PhD at UC Davis and my wonderful friends and housemates took amazing care of her. Two days before I got back she was casually playing a game of fetch in the backyard, as we do with her almost every day, she yipped and started limping with her hind left leg, she remained lame through the next day and Angus (the wonderful friend/bro/housemate that he is) took her to the vet at which point what I had suspected/feared was also suspected by the vet, she apparently tore her cruciate ligament in her knee and would need surgery to fix it. After the x-rays confirmed this, it was obvious that the only course of action is reconstructive knee surgery and pain relief until that can happen. Two of my previous family dogs have had this happen as well, so I was familiar with the process, and am ready to do whatever it takes to get her back to happy and healthy again.

However, as I have just finished my PhD, and have yet to find a full time position, my financial situation is extremely tenuous and I don't have the savings needed to pay for the surgery right now and wouldn't likely have the funds for a few months under the best circumstances, during which time arthritis and scar tissue are likely to build up in the knee.

Her happiness, safety, and health are the most important thing to me. Having her in pain and depressed is breaking my heart, so I'm trying to find a way to get her the surgery as soon as possible. I just want my baby to be happy and healed. Any help in getting her there would be amazing and immensely appreciated, you would be helping me make sure I can get her the surgery as soon as possible and get her through the recovery so that she can go back to living a fun and happy life on four functional legs. Delilah and I will be forever grateful and everyone will be able to follow her recovery and healed legs on Instagram @sealn_erd


Thank you, everyone, for all your love and support, we both appreciate all the people in our lives that have loved and supported us thus far and it means the world to me that we have people rooting for us across the world.

Love, Erin and Delilah Mae