Abigail came into our lives in 2018 at only two months old. Those that know me well know that I am not very religious, but I was at a time in my life when I needed something, anything, to give me a reason to keep going. I prayed for the first time in a long time, and I really feel that my prayers were answered in the form of puppy Abbie. We named her Abigail from the Bible.

Abbie has been an integral part of our lives for over seven years. She is my best friend, a daddy’s girl through and through, and the sweetest cuddle muffin that ever was. She’s never met a hooman she didn’t love, and everyone that meets her instantly falls in love with her. She’s sweet, funny, playful, and has the sassiest personality.

When she was around 3 or 4, maybe a little older, she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. At the time, it was of a lower grade and just needed to be monitored. It had been a grade 4 for a couple years. A couple weeks ago we took Abbie to the vet because I was afraid she had a UTI (which she’s gotten before), and they told me they believed her heart murmur had progressed to a grade 5, but they couldn’t hear any fluid around her lungs yet with the stethoscope. They advised us to continue counting her respiratory rates during deep sleep as we’d been doing, and to bring her in if it reached a certain point.

On August 22, I rushed Abigail to the emergency vet because I knew in my gut something was wrong. As I was getting ready for work (my husband had already left for the day) Abbie was breathing very heavy, could barely keep her eyes open, and one of her extremely red eyes was not facing the right direction. I called the vet (Rose Rock Vet Hospital in Norman, OK who are absolutely wonderful) and they said to bring her in. Thankfully, I work for wonderful people and they of course understood me needing to do this.

When I arrived at the vet they took Abbie from me right away, then showed me to an exam room to wait. A few minutes later a tech came to let me know they had put Abbie on oxygen because she was struggling to breathe on her own. That’s when I started to get pretty scared that it was even more serious than I thought. You know how sometimes you think, maybe I’m overreacting and it’s just…allergies? That’s where my brain had been until they told me that. Once they told me they rushed her into an oxygen chamber, I knew it was bad.

They said they wanted to do some chest x-rays and some other tests which I of course approved. The tech then told me the vet would get those done and come back to talk to me as soon as she was able. Once alone, I called my husband and told him how serious I thought it was, and he left work to come wait with me.

I was waiting probably close to an hour before they came back. The vet (Dr. Mitchell) showed us Abbie’s x-rays and explained that Abbie was suffering from congestive heart failure. What this means is that fluids had begun to fill the space around her lungs, pushing on them and making it difficult for her to breathe. From what I’ve read, it essentially feels like drowning from the inside. (My husband and I were both in rough shape at this point. This is our baby. We have no human children yet, we’ve raised Abbie from two months old, she’s the best part of our days.)

Dr. Mitchell explained that she would like to hospitalize Abbie for at least 3 days. They would begin treating her with injectable meds to minimize the fluid around her lungs, monitor her very closely, keep her on oxygen until they deemed it necessary to remove her, etc. The cost for this treatment is going to be anywhere from $2300-$3800 after all is said and done. We still don’t have a final total yet as this is all ongoing, but we did have to max out a credit card in order to put down a payment toward the final total.

They let us see her for about two minutes before we left, but they didn’t want to remove her from oxygen for too long so it was a very brief goodbye. They let me bring her normal food up to the vet, which I lovingly cut into her portions for each day and included some of her favorite treats just because. Then we got to go see her again yesterday morning and we spent a solid half hour with her before we had to go.

This weekend without her has been really rough. She has woven herself into every aspect of our lives, from morning snuggles to midday potty breaks, from being begged for human food and jumping at every dropped crumb, to snoozing in her favorite spots. It has been so strange and so heartbreaking to not wake up next to my own personal furnace, to not argue with my husband about whose turn it is to take her out, to not have a permanent, although adorable, stalker. Her cat sister Nova definitely misses her too—she’s been crying at our bedroom door every morning waiting for Abbie to come out.

Now, we are fully aware that Abbie is our responsibility, and we’re prepared to pay every penny necessary to bring her back home and continue her lifelong treatment plan. But we know that a lot of people really love Abbie, she brings light and sunshine to so many people’s lives, and that’s why we’ve made this donation fund.

Abbie will continue to have to take daily meds for the rest of her life to manage this condition, which we are prepared to do. Even if we only get a few more years with her after this, that’s as much as I can ask for. Some dogs live for many more years after congestive heart failure. But we are not ready to lose her yet, so we are fighting the necessary fight.

As of right now, Sunday, August 24, Abbie is still at the vet but things are progressing in the right direction. Yesterday she was responding well to the injectable meds and they were able to remove her from the oxygen chamber and relocate her to a standard kennel. This morning Dr. Mitchell called to let us know she would be switching Abbie from the injectable meds to the standard oral meds (which we would continue to give her every day from now on). She’s hopeful that if Abigail continues to respond well to the oral meds as she did the injectable meds, she can be discharged tomorrow.

We’re so ready for our sweet Abbie-Bug to come home. We’re missing a true light in our lives right now and it is heartbreaking. Abigail is my best friend, my husband’s best friend, our fur daughter. We are so thankful that things are progressing in the right direction. Any little share or donation will help us to recover from this emergency, so if you have read this far, I truly appreciate you and your kindness. Any contribution, no matter the size, helps us bring Abbie home and manage her ongoing care.

Much love,

Amanda