My name is Natalie and I am raising funds for our beautiful family dog, Kenai. My parents adopted Kenai in February 2024, 4 days before he was scheduled to be euthanized at the Contra Costa Animal Shelter. Kenai is only about 2 years old, and this past October his health took a turn. My parents have spent around $16,500 trying to save Kenai, but they cannot afford to continue. That amount does not include medicine, probiotics, food, etc. As a last resort, they will be taking him to Tijuana for tests and an endoscopy because they want an additional $3,700-$3,900 for this procedure here in the states.

These issues began at the beginning of October, or so we thought. We lost our other 10-year-old family dog, Dodger, unexpectedly overnight, and Kenai was with him. The vets believe due to grief and anxiety, Kenai chewed a piece of carpet (which he had never done since we had him) and swallowed it. Three days after Dodger passed away, while still dealing with the grief of losing our precious boy, Kenai was rushed to the ER. He then spent the following two weeks in and out of the ER, only for them to tell us to take him to a specialist veterinary after already spending around $15,000. After all the testing, a specialist, and countless vet visits, multiple vets have told us that they believe Kenai already had health issues when we adopted him. We began to suspect the same and contacted the animal shelter for his medical record. They did NOT give this to us when we adopted him; they did NOT warn us or even hint that Kenai had already been experiencing health issues under their care. Had they given us this information or warned my parents of his health we could have helped him sooner and used those $16,000 towards his needs or found him a rescue who could help cover the costs. Kenai is now a part of our family and handing him over to a rescue so he can be saved will only cause him more stress and trauma. We will do whatever necessary to save him, which is why I have started this so my parents have a little more to lean on and use for his tests/medicine.

My parents are in their 50s and have never adopted before, so they did not think to ask for the records. Kenai looked healthy and was very energetic; they didn't think the shelter would adopt out a dog with health issues either, so my dad adopted him solely with the thought of saving him from euthanasia in mind.

It has been heartbreaking for my family to watch our beautiful, loving, crazy boy go from being energetic to losing over 15 lbs and not being as playful as before. This is the short version of what has been happening the past three months, the adjustments my family has made to save Kenai and get his health back to what it was. They weren't able to properly grieve our Dodger leaving us before they had to pivot all the attention and worry towards Kenai.

I would love to help my parents in any way possible to lighten the financial burden they have taken on so Kenai has more time to fight and stay with us.

Anything helps, and we are extremely grateful to everyone that keeps Kenai in their thoughts.

I have attached pictures of Kenai in the ER, from the shelter, at home, the record the shelter had, some of the bills, and the last one of Kenai's first time in the snow.