10/10 Update: I don't even know how to begin - I received a great update this morning that Buttercup was doing well and they would be taking her back for her dressing change to her wounds and would call me when they they were done.

Not long after I received a call that she had coded and they were doing CPR. She passed away shortly thereafter.

My heart is broken. I am devastated and numb.

Thank you to all the beautiful people who have donated, shared, sent prayers and positive thoughts to my sweet baby girl.

My name is Julie Kutchera, and I am raising funds to help pay for the surgery and subsequent treatments for my rescue chihuahua, Buttercup.

Buttercup was adopted in 2021 from Carolina Loving Hounds Rescue. She is an absolute princess and sweetheart with no known past medical issues, other than her heart murmur.

In July 2024, she had her annual exam and shots, and no health concerns were found during her thorough exam.

Fast forward to Sept. 29th, I was trimming the fur down on her back legs and noticed her tummy didn't look right. I put her on her back and, to my astonishment, she had 2 very large and hard tumors under her bottom nipples. These had appeared and grown extremely rapidly as they were not there just weeks before.

Buttercup was seen by her vet on Monday, Sept. 30th, and it was determined she needed immediate surgery for the tumors—there were actually 3 of them. X-rays were done to check for any metastasis, and that is when we found she had swallowed a rock! Surgery was scheduled for Wed., Oct. 2nd.

On her surgery date, the doctor who was booked for her surgery ended up calling in a urology surgeon to do the surgery as one of the tumors was extending all the way down by her urethra, and there was significant concern about the tumor invading the urethra and the possible need for resection/surgery on the urethra.

This was a long and complicated surgery.

Buttercup made it through with flying colors but had an incision that started right below her sternum all the way to her urethra. Because of the amount of skin that also had to be removed due to the tumors, the incision is very tight. She was able to come home with pain meds, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatories.

She had a compression dressing over her tummy that was removed on Oct. 3. Buttercup, on this date, was barely able to walk, but she was eating and drinking! Yay!

Oct. 4 - took her back in as I was concerned as she was not able to walk at all, the bruising and swelling on her stomach and legs was increasing as well as her pain. That exam showed a good temp and respirations. She was given some sub-Q fluids to help combat any dehydration as well as an appetite stimulant, and we added a nausea pill. Friday night went a bit better with her sleeping. She did pee on her potty pad in her bed in the early hours of Saturday.

Oct. 5 - she ate and drank pretty well all day. Still unable to walk. Did not pee all day.

Oct. 6 - she did not pee overnight, appeared listless, and weaker than on Saturday. I took her in to the emergency vets at Vetmed. We were there about 9 hrs. that day, with the ultimate decision that Buttercup needed to be hospitalized for low temp, possible infection, inability to pee, dehydration, and lower oxygen levels. The plan was to sedate her and attempt to place a Foley catheter as her not being able to pee could cause a lot of further issues with her kidneys, bladder, and even heart if her potassium rose too high. The good news was that, once sedated, the vets were able to gently manually empty her bladder, so no Foley had to be placed! They also cultured her incision in several places as they were concerned about it.

Oct. 7 - she was able to pee several times on Monday, and the evening report was hopefully home on Tuesday! She also had her first post-op BM.

Oct. 8 - I received a call in the early mid-morning from the vet. Buttercup had a rough night, had increased pain to the point they started her on IV fentanyl and also on IV fluids. The lower part of her incision had started to open up, and pus was coming out. They did a chest x-ray, which showed a small spot that could be the beginning of pneumonia. She was already on antibiotics, but they switched her up to a broad-spectrum IV antibiotic for both the incision and the possible pneumonia. I drove down and met with the vet and the surgeon—the plan was to take her back to the surgical suite, sedate her, and open up the lower part of her incision to see what was going on. Having to take her into the OR and fully open her up was not off the table as they weren't sure what they would find once they got in there. She would need to stay with them for another 36 to 72 hrs. I was also looking at needing to bring her back for dressing changes once she was able to come home—unsure how long that would be at that time.

Buttercup had her second surgical procedure 6 days after her massive tumor removal surgery. Fortunately, they only had to open up the lower part of the incision, and it appeared to be all contained in the superficial parts of the incision, and the abdominal wall incision was not affected. Her wound was packed and heavily dressed.

10/9 - I was able to visit Buttercup today after they had sedated her and completed her dressing change—the wound was flushed out again, and a very small amount of skin needed to be debrided. She is doing as well as can be expected. She ate some breakfast!

The current plan is - "maybe" home 10/10. Will need to return on Saturday, 10/12, for a dressing change. If that dressing change goes well, then return on Monday for a dressing change and a trip back to the OR to attempt to close up the wound.

Thank you for reading this far! I wanted to be as detailed as possible about all that my baby girl is going through and still needs to go through.

Now for the tough part—asking for help! As of today, I have spent almost $16,000 for the surgeries and ongoing hospitalization. I will attach pictures of the invoices and screenshots from Discover, CareCredit, and AmEx showing the expenses.

Any amount will help, and I totally understand how tough things are for everyone.

Sharing this GoFundMe will also help get more visibility!

Thank you for caring.