Over a month ago, we noticed our cocker spaniel, Paislee, wasn’t herself. She stopped eating, was very lethargic, and just wasn’t acting like our happy, spunky girl. We took her in right away and ran numerous tests, hoping for an easy answer. Instead, we received the devastating news that she has IMHA (Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia) — a disease where her immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys her own red blood cells.

Since her diagnosis, Paislee has been fighting nonstop. We’ve been going to the vet once or twice a week for checkups, lab work, and ongoing monitoring. Her numbers dropped dangerously low, to the point it was considered life-threatening, and she required blood transfusions to stabilize her and buy us time for her medications to start helping. She is currently on multiple medications and requires close, continued care.

If her numbers continue to drop, multiple blood transfusions may be required, and those would need to happen at an urgent or emergency pet care clinic, rather than our regular vet, due to the need for blood cross-matching and an on-hand blood supply. These emergency-level treatments come with significantly higher costs.

These vet visits, transfusions, medications, and tests have added up quickly — and unfortunately, this is ongoing. We expect to continue racking up expenses as we do everything possible to give Paislee the best chance to recover.

On top of all of this, we were already halfway into planning our wedding when we found out about Paislee’s diagnosis, so having so many major expenses hit at once has been overwhelming.

Paislee will be 5 years old on New Year’s Eve, and all we want is to ring in the new year with her healthy and home with us. She is truly the heart of our family, and we’re not giving up on her.

If you’re able to donate or even just share Paislee’s story, we would be beyond grateful. Thank you for supporting us, loving Paislee, and helping us keep hope alive during this incredibly hard time.