Our family's sweet Phoebe, a 2 year old English Mastiff, was rushed to the emergency vet this morning after being unable to urinate for over 18 hours. She had become lethargic and was not eating, though she continued to drink water. After paying nearly $700 in vet fees and diagnostics, we were told her bladder was full of stones ranging in size from a dime to a quarter and she needed the urethra blockage removed to prevent her bladder from bursting and immediate surgery to prevent further blockages. Unfortunately her blood work came back as life-threatening, with a creatine level of 9.2 (anything over 5 is end stage renal failure), so surgery is not an option as she would die during the procedure.

At this point, Phoebe is now hospitalized and sedated. The catheter insertion was successful, dislodged the stone from the urethra and her bladder is draining, though it is mostly blood. They are pushing fluids to help flush the bladder and improve kidney function and will be retesting every 12 hours until the levels drop. The hope is the intervention was done before kidney damage occurred. At that point she will have the emergency surgery to remove the numerous stones. If her levels do not drop they will know she has kidney damage and euthanasia is the only option for ending the pain and suffering.

The initial quote for treatment (not including the $700 already paid) was for a 3 day hospitalization and treatment. The total was just shy of $7000. But now that they have to wait an additional 24-48 hours for creatine levels to drop, the cost will be higher.

Our family applied for a Care Credit line, but fear the final cost will exceed the approved amount we have available. Any help will offset those costs and is greatly appreciated.

I (Trisha) will post updates as I receive them. Please be in prayer for our family, who are devastated by this sudden health crisis, and for Phoebe to recover and live a long healthy life. She is a trooper, having recovered from parvo a year ago as an adult, despite being fully vaccinated. I know our sweet baby can pull through this, as well.