Happy Hides medical expenses

Hi! I'm Jen, co-founder of Happy Hides. We are a 501c3 rescue and sanctuary for reptiles that have been abused, are aggressive, have special needs and those that are unwanted. The reptiles are able to recover to their best, be loved and help educate people about reptiles through one on one encounters and on social media.

We incur many costs while caring for many reptiles. How many reptiles we care for can vary a any given time. We try to find forever homes to those that can lead a normal, healthy life with a loving home. But for those that have special requirements, we keep at our sanctuary to live out their days being loved and cared for.

This not only means we have daily care of food, electricity, cleaning supplies. But also enclosures and reptile supplies specific to each reptiles' needs. We also have medications and medical costs for the reptiles to be their best and stay healthy.

As founders of Happy Hides, my husband and I pay for all costs out of pocket and through donations received. And we could use your help to pay for medical costs. With my husband's cancer diagnosis last year, his surgeries and medical costs have significantly impacted us financially.

For those of you that don't see us on social media, we had an emergency surgery preformed on one of our bearded dragons, Ethel. And although we have a credit card to pay for medical costs, we need help to pay those medical expenses.

But first, we want to tell you a little bit about Ethel and her story. Ethel arrived almost 4 years ago. We were told her diet was mostly iceberg lettuce and strawberries with a couple of bugs. She was given no vitamins or calcium and provided little to no UVB. Ethel was emaciated and we were told she constantly laid eggs. She was stained from feces and also showed signs of abuse.

Since arriving she has had little health issues and gained weight to a healthy size. But, on Friday (June 18th), she laid an egg that wasn't shaped properly. As a rescue with reptiles of different medical needs, we monitor all intake of vitamins and calcium. But with Ethel, we believe her past neglect and guessing her age being around 12 years old, we have to be aware that issues are possible.

She was doing well until Saturday night (June 19th). She showed signs of discomfort and was trying to push. After a short time she stopped pushing and was starting to relax. But, on Sunday she showed more discomfort and was trying to push on and off throughout the day.

Being concerned there was an issue, we went to see her vet on Monday (June 20th). At the visit, her x-rays didn't reveal much. There were eggs forming but nothing major showed. Because she had a malformed egg, an enema was given to help clean out any possible yolk that had released. There was some yolk but nothing else at her visit that raised red flags. Although, if an egg isn't properly formed and yolk seeps out, this could be concern for infection. She was put on antibiotics as a precaution and sent home with continued monitoring.

Tuesday morning she looked like she felt better for a bit but by evening she was in a pain and pushing a lot with no success. Because of the yolk and possibility of other egg issues, the next day (Wednesday, June 23rd), we took her for an emergency surgery.

The surgery was to explore for any issues and while under anesthesia, she would be spayed to prevent any future complications. Keep on mind, it is not safe to put any reptile under anesthesia. This is why vets don't automatically recommend spaying when you aren't breeding. If surgery wasn't a concern, we would spay all of our females as we do not breed under any circumstances. In Ethel's case we were also worried about her being older. An older, unwell reptile is more risky to preform surgery on. But, this was our only option.

Surgery went well! The exploration revealed more yolk but no signs of cancer. As she was spayed, her right side did have many eggs forming but her left side had ruptured. If surgery had not been preformed that day, she wouldn't have survived.

We are grateful for our vet. She went above and beyond to make sure Ethel had a successful surgery. Now, Ethel has a long road of recovery. She is not out of woods yet. Although she jumped a big hurdle, sleep still have a few weeks of healing. Being she is old and frail from the rupture, we have to make sure she doesn't get any infections or have complications with her sutures healing.

Now that you know more about Ethel, we hope that you can help. She isn't the only reptile that has medical costs and medications. Being a rescue, there are always medical bills. Please consider donating to help Ethel and the many reptiles at Happy Hides. Thank you.