Get Noah Bear Back on His Paws: Donate Now

My name is Carly, and my ultimate sidekick is Noah Bear. I adopted Noah in May 2021 from Colorado Corgis and Friends foster-based rescue. He was so shut down and desperately afraid of everyone and everything. At the meet-and-greet prior to his adoption, he wouldn't make eye contact and stood frozen in place, tail between his legs, quivering. I just wanted to scoop him up and shield him from everything scary. Despite being told he was too shut down and could be "someone else's problem," I went forward with adopting him. His foster parents told me so many people expressed interest in him but then didn't want to adopt after "meeting" him. That broke my heart, and I decided I wouldn't be another person to say no; instead, I would love him into life.

Over the past four years, that is exactly what has happened. And Noah Bear has blossomed into the most loving, silly, wiggly, adventurous little guy. He loves going for car rides (just not to the vet), taking walks and sniffs in the neighborhood, going to the off-leash dog park to romp around with friends of the canine variety, and sidling up to his big brother, Bentli Bean. Much of these preferred activities have come to a sudden halt for Noah though, as his right legs have stopped working as they should.

On Sunday, June 1st, I was walking Noah when I noticed him dragging his back right leg and looking a bit uncoordinated and off balance. On June 2nd, I called the vet after starting to notice the same thing in his front right leg. He was also knuckling his front right paw -- where his paw was curling under, causing him to stand or walk on the top of his paw (or knuckles) instead of the pad -- and starting to stumble.

We spent 3 hours at the vet on Monday, 6/2, and worked with two vets -- one general practitioner and one neurologist. The consensus was that he is experiencing right-sided hemiparesis (weakness/partial paralysis on one side of the body) likely due to a disc herniation. The treatment options were as follows:

I so desperately wanted to opt into the MRI for him and dive into uncovering the root of the problem, but due to my current financial situation, I needed to take the more conservative approach of medical management. Further, I was told by the neurologist that depending on what the MRI showed, the recommended next step could be surgery. Since dogs require anesthesia for an MRI to be completed, the surgery would immediately follow the scan, if indicated.

We have a follow-up appointment with the neurologist scheduled for June 16th, at which time I fear a decision to progress with the MRI (and possible surgery) would need to be made. Noah and I have been working diligently to follow the medical management guidelines for just shy of a week now, but unfortunately, there are no improvements so far.

The costs I face for the MRI alone (~$3-5K) are terrifying, let alone the cost of surgical treatment (another ~8-10K), but when the only other option is watching my sweet friend suffer, I am determined to find a way to help him. If you would like to help, you can donate any amount below. I am deeply grateful for anything you can give. You can also help make a difference by sharing my story with people you know! Any assistance to get Noah Bear back up and running (literally) would be so dearly appreciated.

“Love is so quiet, it’s this invisible thread of calm that connects the two of us even when everything is chaos, when things are falling apart.” -Nora McInerny