Please help me save my beloved dog, Grace

Hi, my name is Kristen, and I'm asking for donations of any amount to help save my incredibly beloved dog, Grace.

I hoped I’d never have to make a post like this for many reasons, and by the purposeful structure and design of my own life I try to keep myself ready and able to deal with an emergency at any moment. Unfortunately, of course, life often has other plans and I’m now facing two emergencies at once which have just decimated my savings.

On August 28th of this year, I was in a car accident through no fault of my own that totaled my car, and I am still trying to negotiate a fair settlement with the at-fault insurance company. This has been exhausting and defeating, but still manageable as it’s figured out, it has just put a strain on everything else while it’s sorted and as I plan for an unexpected vehicle purchase.

Two nights ago, October 2nd, Grace, my German Shepherd I’ve had since she was six weeks old, spent the day hiding, not eating, and not moving which is so unlike her. She is a very happy and healthy girl despite being the ripe age of 8, and at our annual vet appointment this year the vet remarked “Wow, I thought she was 5 and was going to say she looked great for 5, much less 8! What a happy girl.” I was so proud of my sweet girl, and thought I had many wonderful years left with her. I hope and pray with every fiber of my being that I still do.

Her behavior Monday night was very concerning, and we thought her stomach looked distended and felt hard to the touch, so we immediately drove her to the emergency vet. At the time I was thinking “I hope it’s not a flipped stomach, that would be so horrible and the bills for that are just crazy.” Now, thinking back, not that I would ever wish for a stomach flip or bloat, but what it turned out to be was much worse (it feels much worse, of course either would be awful). They ran X-rays on her abdomen at the ER and her spleen was about 5 times its normal size and had ruptured causing internal bleeding. They started throwing words around like “hemangiosarcoma” and “aggressive cancer” and I just went into dissociated shock. This is my baby, she’s so happy, healthy, and young still, this can’t be real. I approved bloodwork, testing, anything she needed; of course. After running further tests on her, they came back with a quote for surgery that was $8,000-$12,000 on top of what I was already spending there, and not a great prognosis for life if the mass that ruptured her spleen turned out to be cancerous. I can’t afford that, hardly anyone can. And without surgery in the next 72 hours, she could have days to live. My heart was absolutely shattered, and I couldn’t see a way to save her at that price. We took her home Monday night with a return appointment in the morning to run an ultrasound on her abdomen to see if the mass had metastasized, which would certainly confirm cancer. But if it hadn’t, there would still be hope that maybe it wasn’t cancer, we just wouldn’t know for sure until the mass was tested.

The ultrasound results in the AM were positive, and they didn’t see any additional signs of masses other places, which was amazing news to hear, but still defeating since I knew I couldn’t afford the price of surgery with them. I didn’t want to give up on her yet; I couldn’t. So I called around to multiple places in the Denver metro to find a place that could give us a better price. That led us to Dr. Jeff and Dr. Petra at Planned Pethood. You may have heard of them before or watched their show Rocky Mountain Vet on Animal Planet, they’re absolute angels of human beings and their mission is to provide affordable care in emergencies like this one. They gave us a quote of $2,250 and we had her transferred there immediately after paying the $1,428 bill at the emergency vet. If the mass does end up being cancerous, there will be additional costs for chemotherapy for her. I’ve said many times in my life that I would be homeless for my dog if I needed to, and thankfully I’m not there yet, but I don’t have the funds with everything else going on to pay for everything without a second thought, and that makes me feel awful. Grace deserves the world and more, and a mom that would do anything for her and I will.

I’m making this post today to update my friends and family who have met Grace or have seen my posts about her over the years and know how pivotal of a role she’s played in my life over the past 8 years. To know Grace is to love her, she’s my best friend and baby, and has been with me through some of the saddest and loneliest times in my life, and also some of the happiest. I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for her. She’s saved my life many times without even knowing it, and now it’s my turn to save hers. I’ve opened a new credit card to pay for this and dedicated everything I can and more to ensure she’s taken care of. But it has put a huge financial burden on me with the car accident happening in the same timeframe, and I’m here acknowledging that I need help and asking for it.

If you’re able to contribute in any way, that means the world to Grace and I, and if you’re unable to, just well wishes and prayers are so welcomed right now. Please pray for my baby, please pray she’s okay, and keep us in your thoughts. I will genuinely appreciate and be immensely grateful for every dollar I receive no matter how it’s sent. And if you made it this far, thanks so much for reading this incredibly long post.

Have a blessed day everyone! Give your pets an extra hard hug and kiss today and never take a single moment with them for granted. And if you take nothing else away from this post, please heed this advice: GET PET INSURANCE! You never know when you’ll need it, but it’ll be such a relief to have it when you do.