This is Willow, my love and emotional service animal. She is a goofy, sweet, (loudly) opinionated, and playful girl. She loves playing with her friends at daycare, going on long walks around her neighborhood, exploring trails where she can dip her paws (but ONLY her paws) in the water, and cuddling with all her favorite people on the couch or in bed. And of course she is absolutely gorgeous (and knows it).

She also has the anxious stomach of a girl burdened with more than she needs to carry.

Willow is a lovely, loyal girl once she knows and trusts you, but I suspect she was not treated well in her life, at least before the wonderful person who gave her to me found her. She is wary of most people but protective over the people she does know and love; gaining that trust is very hard work, but once Willow loves you, she loves you for life. However, the rest of the world is scary for her; she is very fearful and distrustful of the vast majority of strangers (particularly men), people on bikes, skateboards, and golf carts, and most anything that makes loud, abrupt noises like smoke alarms and fireworks. She is on a couple medications to ease her anxiety intermittently (CBD drops, Trazadone).

However, I (and her vet) very much suspect that this all contributes to her frequent digestive distress. Ever since she was given to me a little over 3 years ago, she's had a complicated relationship with food. She goes through periods where she doesn't want to eat or drink, and I've taken her to the ER vet a few times to give her an IV drip and appetite stimulant when she's gone more than a day or two without eating and we're not sure why. Sometimes it's just a refusal to eat; other times, I can hear her stomach churning and see the distress and fatigue on her face and body. She'll refuse to eat and then vomit or have diarrhea, then gets sad when people are concerned for her, which only repeats the cycle until she feels ready to eat again.

With guidance from her vet, Willow's gone through many different types of diets (from basic kibble and wet food from the store, expensive grain-free dog food with bone broth or other healthy toppers, and now a mix of grain-free dog food and homemade crock-pot meals). She's been on a probiotic, canine enteric support, and other supplements for awhile as well. But no matter what we've tried, she will eventually have these episodes of seemingly ambiguous digestive issues. All of this has happened randomly and infrequently enough that her vet and I have felt okay to just adjust her diet and see how things go.

Most recently however, she has had 2 episodes where she's had intense drooling, fatigue, and abrupt mood shift, without a change in appetite. The first incident I took her to the vet ER and they gave her some Cerenia for nausea (see invoice below), but they said that unless I knew she'd gotten into something, which I knew she hadn't, we wouldn't really know the cause unless we ordered extensive labs and blood work. It happened again a few weeks later when I was at work, but after an ER vet bill of over $350 for them to just administer a medication and send us on our way (after a 5 minute exam and almost 2 hours of waiting beforehand), I chose to wait it out and see if things resolved themselves at daycare, which they did. But I feel so bad for Willow, who I imagine has to be dealing with this discomfort more often than maybe I know about. She's incredibly empathetic and feels the pain of the people around her (which is what makes her such an amazing emotional support animal), but this means that she's very stoic about her own discomfort, and I don't want that for her.

After going back and forth about this with her regular vet, she thinks that since these issues don't seem to be resolving through changes in diet alone, we should pursue more aggressive forms of testing to determine what might be going on and figure out the best solution. Unfortunately, at the onset this level of testing is estimated to cost between $1,232.00 and $1,478.40 (see estimate below).

I do have pet insurance and got pre-approval for this, but I have to pay everything upfront to be reimbursed, and my plan only covers me for 80% coverage minus a $500 deductible. By my personal calculations, I'm looking at getting back maybe $800, possibly less.

Even if I did have this amount of money accessible to me for things other than bills or savings (which I don't), that level of return is just not enough for a bill this high. It's too much money to lose and I would risk not being able to pay my bills. I live alone, and in June I'll be moving back in with family because the cost of living by myself is no longer sustainable in the area I live; additionally, I am anticipating some major changes in my life soon where finances are going to be even more limited.

For right now, I'm asking for $2,000, to cover the cost of initial testing and any follow-up procedures, tests, or treatments that Willow's vet may need to run depending on what we find (which we have briefly discussed in person but I don't have an invoice or written description for yet; once I do, I will attach it here). I also want to be transparent: this is not money for any life-saving procedures, just initial testing and investigating to find out what may be going on.

Willow is the love of my life. I struggle with a few mental health disorders, and frankly her presence in my life is what has kept me moving and alive through some of the worst moments of my life, as well as everyday moments that are made harder by what's going on in my head on a daily basis.

I want her to have the best life I can give her; it's broken my heart several times over to see her in pain and not know why. You have my lifelong appreciation and respect for any help you are able to provide, even if it's just sharing this page with other people or on your socials.

Thank you, from both me and Willow.

Sincerely,

Willow's mom (also sometimes known as Kaitlyn)