Help Give Layla Her Best Last Day

My dear friends and family, most of you know that we’d never ask if we didn’t need it, but this is one of the things that kept coming to mind. This a very rare raw and vulnerable moment for me as I am rarely open about personal problems, but I have felt very strongly that I need to swallow my pride and share what we are going through.

Keith and I are facing the hardest decision and one of the hardest things we’ve ever had to face in our marriage so far. We are preparing for end-of-life care for our beloved fur baby, Layla. While we have so many amazing kids in our lives that we love dearly as nieces and nephews, most of you know that we don’t have biological children, and she’s the closest we have to a “child” of our own.

Layla is nearly 16 years old and has touched so many lives. She’s always been a very special girl. She’s been very healthy most of her life (even stunning vets with how young she appeared to be even after 10 years!), but her health has been deteriorating slowly over the last couple years—especially after her vestibular attack almost 2 years ago. Since then, we have done everything we can to ensure she has had the best quality of life for as long as possible. Within the past couple weeks, we’ve noticed that it has become harder and harder for her to find comfort, but she has not experienced any prolonged periods of pain or suffering.

We don’t want her to get to a point where she is experiencing more pain than peace in her waking hours, so we have come to the very painful decision to begin end-of-life care for her. We have looked into options and wanted to give her the best last day we can give her after she’s been such a faithful companion for so long. We decided a long time ago that we didn’t want to cause her any anxiety on her last day by bringing her to a vet, so we wanted to have her last moments be at home, in a place where she feels safe and loved.

Finances are very strained at the moment as we have recently taken on a mortgage and had to buy a new-to-us vehicle. Our savings are pretty non-existent and during the winter months, we started taking on more debt due to business being slower in these months. Layla’s care has also become a bit more expensive lately as she has more vet visits, along with more and different needs we have had to address.

Extra funds right now would mean that we wouldn’t need to stress over the next paycheck or cut any corners on her care. We think she deserves the best care that we can give her, but it has become apparent that we can’t give her the comfort and dignity she deserves on our own.

Any amount that you can offer helps more than you can know. It would help us cover:

Anything exceeding our initial goal would help to cover:

This would take such a weight off our shoulders, give us peace of mind that we have done the best we can for her, and allow us time to grieve without stressing over lost hours of work. Thank you in advance for really anything you can offer. No amount is too small to make a difference for her and for us.

Even if you can’t offer anything financially, we would love for anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting our sweet girl to share your pictures and stories about her. We would love to hear from you. Thank you all so much for your love and support,

--With love, Keith, Katrina, and Layla