If you or your dog ever worked with Emily Kay of Woof Work Dog , you know how much she cares about every dog's well being and happiness. Whether it's a search and rescue dog, or a family dog, Emily makes sure that every dog and their owner are on the same wavelength. She does it in a tireless way and does not count the hours she puts in.

Last month, our two dogs ran away. We were panicked and thought they would never come back. Emily jumped in her car with her puppy Phantom in the middle of the night and spent 5 hours walking up and down steep slopes, trying to find them, tracking their scent with Phantom. She kept a smile on her face the whole time. When Phantom, her puppy also disappeared, she kept a positive attitude. And we got all three dogs back! I'm sure you all have similar stories to share about Emily.

Now it's all our turn to help Emily.

Phantom is an English Mastiff born on October 23, 2019.  She is a social butterfly. Her favorite thing in the world is everyone she hasn’t met yet!  Phantom is a really special dog, and she is in training to perform search and rescue and find human remains.  Currently, Phantom has an critical health condition, and her medical bills have reached $9,460.

On Dec 14, 2019, Phantom came home seemingly healthy. One month later, her appetite and energy started to decline. On January 26, she was rushed to the emergency vet, having difficulty breathing, refusing all food, and running a fever.  She was admitted overnight and $4k later, was sent home with antibiotics and a massively distended abdomen. She was in extreme pain and was brought back to the hospital immediately. X-rays showed fluid accumulation in her abdomen, chest, and the membrane enclosing her heart. Emergency procedures were performed, where fluid was drained from those areas but she received no real diagnosis.  The next day, Phantom was taken to another hospital where her condition was pronounced serious and requiring urgent specialist care. She was finally referred to Sage Speciality and Emergency  in Campbell, California, where she continues to receive care. 

The doctors at Sage, have performed ultrasounds, fluid centesis, a CT scan under anesthesia, an echocardiogram and have had fluid and needle aspirate cytologies analyzed. After a month of costly diagnostics, the cause of her suffering was finally identified - an idiopathic Thymic hematoma (hemorrhaging of the thymus gland).  

Since then, Phantom has started to improve. Her appetite has returned (gained 25lbs since she was first admitted). She has energy and is finally starting to act like a healthy puppy. It will take months before the blood present in her chest reabsorbs fully, and the process is painful. But Phantom is strong and appears to be progressing more each day. She will have another CT scan in a few months to recheck the status. 

While Emily is the surrogate parent to so many dogs, her one and only personal dog is Phantom, who joined the family after Emily’s best friend Ishi (English Mastiff) passed away at 12.5 years old.  Emily and Phantom have touched so many lives. Hopefully we can help them too!

Go Fund Me proceeds will go towards Phantoms past and future medical bills and any necessary therapy and/or diet.  If there are extra donations, they will benefit the nonprofit Search & Rescue organization directed by Emily Kay - Coastal Mountain Search Dogs. Updates about Phantom will be posted on this site.  THANK YOU!!!