Bella Selene Needs Your Support

Bella Selene has been my rock since I was 14 years old. She turned 14 herself in March. In April, we received unfortunate news that her kidneys are shutting down. There was a month stretch where she was rapidly losing weight amongst other alarming symptoms. The rapid decline led my vet to believe she had very limited time before she was going to experience painful and terrifying symptoms of kidney failure. (Seizures, vomiting, diarrhea, confusion, nausea, etc.) My worst fear was that she would endure that decline alone while I was at work. Our appointment to humanely euthanized her was set, and I alerted my job that I would need to take a few personal days. Bella and I have been together so long, I don’t remember what life was like before her. Unfortunately, I was fired when I asked for those days off. As stressful as this has been financially, I’m grateful I was fired. I decided not to put Bella down, and I’m now able to devote more time to being her hospice nurse.

Due to Bella’s age, she has had all but 3 teeth removed. One of her remaining teeth was infected, which caused her rapid decline in weight and gastrointestinal symptoms that we believed to be rapid kidney failure. Since starting antibiotics for her tooth, her symptoms have improved and she is finally back to her normal weight! We have regularly checked her kidney levels, and they are declining much slower than expected. Kidney failure is unfortunately terminal and not reversible, but she has much more time than we originally expected. She goes to the vet three times a week for subcutaneous fluids, and she’ll have surgery in two weeks to remove her remaining teeth. We don’t know how much time we have left with Bella, but I’m so grateful that I have a longer time to say goodbye to my best friend. We’ve been pretending every day is her “birthday”. She goes for lots of rides in the car and in her stroller.

I’ve never created a gofundme before, but I’m hopeful that family and friends will be willing to help me during this difficult time. I’ll do anything for Bella, and I’m really grateful for any help you are willing to give.