One Eye, Expensive Taste: Gretchen's Story

Meet Gretchen

She's a senior Chihuahua who found her way into my life through the Louisiana SPCA foster program. I often foster dogs for the Louisiana SPCA and love finding them forever homes, but Gretchen has had a unique journey.

I began fostering Gretchen knowing she had a number of health issues. Gretchen was underweight and had lost fur, needed eye surgery, had an ear infection, and had a bad cough. The shelter did what they could — antibiotics for pneumonia and an emergency vet stay for dehydration. In mid-May 2025, I was distraught to learn that Gretchen's medical needs exceeded the funding the Louisiana SPCA had to care for her and thus she was being removed from the foster program.

I adopted Gretchen to save her life. Now I’m fighting for her to have the medical care she desperately needs.

Gretchen is feisty, sweet, and brave. She plays with her dog sisters when she is having a good day, and naps in my lap when she's in pain. She is friendly to my cats, a snuggly companion for movie nights, and wants to play outside though her physical impairments are holding her back. Gretchen deserves to spend her golden years in comfort, free from pain and full of love.

I am asking for help to cover:

$1,800 – Left eye enucleation (recommended by a specialist in New Orleans with the tools and experience to complete this surgery on an older, more fragile small dog) - surgery was May 15, 2025!

$4,000 - Right eye lens removal (in the post-op phase from the left eye enucleation, a subluxated right eye lens was diagnosed. This is an urgent condition and lens removal will prevent rupture and total loss of the right eye)

$500 – Spay surgery (Louisiana SPCA did not have the tools to spay Gretchen, so I adopted her un-spayed)

$300 – Orthopedic consult for her knee (suspected subluxation of her right patella. Gretchen is struggling to walk and every day her mobility decreases. this is an urgent need)

$1,000 – Urgent dental care (Gretchen has periodontal disease and is in pain when she eats. This was a contributing factor to her recent critical dehydration emergency) - scheduled for June 20, 2025

Total Goal: $7,600

Every dollar gets us closer to relief for Gretchen. Please help if you can, and share her story if you can’t donate right now.

From both me and Gretchen — thank you.