I am a preschool teacher and mother of 2 in the mountains of Colorado. We rescued Niko when she was 7 weeks old from a feral colony in SC. At that time she had pneumonia, a scratched cornea, conjunctivitis , and a sty. She was malnourished and her eye was swollen shut. Her mother had abandoned her and she would have died within days. Niko is currently 19 weeks old and since her rescue she has seen 3 different vets, suffered pneumonia twice, frequently vomits, had several X-rays and ultrasounds, been on 6 weeks of antibiotics, and 2 different eye creams.

With the help of our local vet we were able to determine the source of her troubles. He diagnosed Niko with Megaesophagus (that’s actually a medical term) caused by a vascular ring anomaly, a condition where abnormal blood vessels that failed to regress after birth wrap around the esophagus and constrict it. This causes food to accumulate in her esophagus, leading to regurgitation and vomiting, weight loss, and aspiration pneumonia when the food enters her lungs.

Surgery can correct the abnormal blood vessels and relieve the esophagus constriction. This needs to be done sooner rather than later because scar tissue will begin to replace the esophagus lining and her condition will worsen, leaving her with a poor quality of life, more bouts of pneumonia, and shortly, the need to euthanize.

We are not looking to recover the time and money already spent. We are asking for donations to make surgery a reality for Niko. The cost is estimated to be over $5000 and any amount helps. If you are not able to donate please forward this to someone who might be able to. Niko is already a part of our family and we’d love to see her live a long , healthy life.