Help Bear Get the ACL Surgery He Needs

Hello, meet our 7-year-old Queensland, Bear. Bear is the baby of the family at 7 years old and has always been a very playful and rambunctious boy up until recently.

About 4 months ago, we lost the matriarch of the fur family, our chocolate heeler, Winnie. Winnie left us far too soon and left a void in all of our hearts; the dogs definitely missed her. It wasn't long after her passing that we noticed Bear did not seem quite himself, but we chalked it up to being sad and depressed without Winnie around.

Bear has also recently been struggling with some teeth problems, and while he has been awaiting his dental appointment, we also thought maybe his laying around was due to the mouth hurting. :( We then noticed he started to limp; however, the limp came and went, and so for the first several weeks, we tried to look in his paw and feel his leg, but nothing seemed to bother him. With it coming and going, we assumed it would work itself out as many times dogs manage to do. However, after another couple of weeks of it coming and going and seeming to stay longer than usual, we got him into the vet for a check-up.

They ran some tests, and all his blood work came back beautifully. His X-ray showed no fractures, but the vet said that she was able to do a manual exam and she determined he had at the very least a partially torn ACL. The vet said we could attempt to see if it would heal with NSAIDs and strict rest. It has been another 3.5 weeks, and while the NSAIDs seem to make a bit of a difference and he moves a little quicker, it's quite obvious it's not healing. It's heartbreaking to watch our playful pup just lay around and at times whimper in his sleep.

We live in a rural area, and none of our vets perform the ACL repair, so we will have to travel approximately 6-8 hours round trip for his repair and spend the night per the vet's instructions. The surgery is costly at approximately $4,000 per the vet's office. This is an expense we definitely are not prepared for, and as hard as it is to ask for a donation, it's a cause that we could really use a little help on! Thank you for reading and thank you for donating!