Hi, My name is Marilee Caruso and about 2 years ago I found this absolutely wonderful stray dog on my front lawn. I said hello and he ran right up to me with a smile, but no collar or leash. After searching the neighborhood, putting up signs and posting on the Front Street Shelter page we still couldn’t find his owner. Went to the vet to have him scanned for a chip and shockingly he had one. But no one ever called :( Who would just let his super sweet cuddle baby go!!! After that we welcomed him into our family and he has become such an amazing part of our lives.

In January of this year we took Ollie in to have a basic check and unfortunately the Vet found a mass in his bum. They wanted to remove it as soon as possible. But there was a hang up, Ollie has a heart murmur. So first we had to get a $500 Ultrasound of his heart done to find out how bad it was and if he could handle anesthesia during the surgery. The results came back with stage 2 heart disease. So that meant he had to be put on heart medicine for at least a few weeks before the surgery could even happen. Finally we get a date for the $2800 surgery to remove the mass earlier in April. Two week recovery time and tedious wait to find out that the mass was cancer and the werent able to remove it all.

So off to the Oncologist we were referred to at VCA Sacramento Vet Center. They say before they can even recommend a coarse of treatment we need to do a new Ultrasound on his abdomen and X-ray on his lungs just to see if it spread to anywhere else, along with a kind of biopsy of the surgery sight to see if it is already regrowing $2000-$2500

All of this has been such a shock and just heartbreaking since we have just fallen in love with Ollie. He’s been the best support during this pandemic for myself, Joe and Zuko. I know even my clients that come to shoot at the house have fallen for him as well.

We really want to do everything we can to keep Ollie happy and comfortable and would appreciate any help you can give. If you know me you know it’s really hard for me to ask for help, but for Ollie I’ll stuff my pride.

Thank you for any help you can give!