Help Hermes get Bladder Surgery

UPDATE #1

***The amount was lowered because of donations made outside of GoFundMe. Thanks for the overwhelming support!***

Hi I’m Ashley, Hermes the Pointer’s mom. I am a 2x Afghanistan War veteran with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Hermes is the best dog on reading people (and other dogs) and gauging how he should interact with them; this is intuitive for him. He’s never been trained as a Support Animal, even though he acts as my support animal every day, from not startling me if he drops an antler, to gently waking me up if I’m having a nightmare, he works without formal training and loves his work. He’s only six years old, he’s a German Shorthaired Pointer mix and my first dog; I’ve had him since he was 10 weeks old.

His entire litter was found in a box on the side of the road, luckily rescued by a Good Samaritan and brought to Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, UT which is where I adopted him from. I have loved him since I first saw him and he’s been my constant companion since then, so much so that we both have anxiety when we’re separated. He's ball-obsessed (as in takes-the-bulbs-off-the-Christmas-tree obsessed), antagonizes his sister (a Weimaraner), and loves all cats, feral and domestic (even if they don’t like him-which most of them don’t).

On Friday, November 19, Hermes started showing signs of having trouble urinating. It cleared up and he was fine, so we (my husband and I) didn’t think much of it. However, the next day he was barely able to urinate and on Sunday he was peeing blood, vomiting, and straining to pee. We took him to the Emergency Vet, and after seven hours of waiting, what we thought was a UTI was bladder stones. My best boy has so many of them and needs surgery immediately.

With the help of our family we were able to pay the initial $1000 in ER vet fees, but the surgery he needs is $4000. The extra $1000 is to cover fees for credit/debit card donations (2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction) and any additional cost from the surgery/recovery. If there is any money leftover after his surgery and recovery, I will be donating the remainder to Best Friends Animal Society.

This GoFundMe is a last resort. Bladder stones can block (and some are currently blocking) his urethra which is life-threatening. If we can’t get this surgery for him in the next few days, we have to put him down. There is an option for a low-cost clinic (IF we qualify), but they’re not open on Mondays and the vet said we can’t wait to have this surgery because he already has stones blocking his urethra. The low-cost surgery is $800, but we won’t be able to afford to do it until Friday. I don’t want to put him down, if you’re able, please donate so we can save him. Thank you!