Lilly's Plea: Urgent Heart Murmur Testing for Lola

For those of you don't know me, my name is Lilly, and I adopted my dog, Lola, in January of 2024.

Lola is my life. I've spent nearly all of every day with her since I adopted her. She recently developed a cough that led us to the vet, and that's what brings us here.

Though so far the cough itself is believed to be allergies, her vet noticed that her heartbeat was not quite right when doing the physical examination. We took an EKG and it was sent out to a cardiologist. The findings of Lola's EKG were frequent intermittent Ventricular Premature Complexes. This could be due to primary cardiac disease or intra-abdominal disease (such as a splenic mass). In order to treat and move forward with whatever may be causing these, Lola urgently needs extensive diagnostic testing. This is including, but not limited to:

-A chest x-ray

-Ultrasound of her spleen

-Echocardiogram

-Potential full abdominal ultrasound

There also is a suspicious bump on her body that needs a biopsy.

When I adopted Lola, I was a lot more financially stable than I am right now. I brought her home after over 6 years in foster, knowing that adopting a middle aged to senior dog comes with more vet bills sooner rather than later. What I did not know was that two weeks after bringing her home, I would be in the hospital with organ failure and be put on a 3 month unpaid leave from my job. I was lucky enough to have some savings and help from my parents for those times, and submitted a claim for short-term disability pay. After returning to my job, I left due to a better offer elsewhere. 2 weeks into that job, there was talk of budget cuts. Before I knew it, my shifts were all gone before I couldn't even get a comma back into a savings account. In total, I only worked about 5 months in 2024-- I have been looking for work since October. The talk you hear regarding the job market is not as hyperbolic as many of us are led to believe. I have been denied unemployment, as well as my claim for short-term disability. While I am as lucky as I am to be getting help from my family, this sudden need for funds was simply not in the cards-- Lola had her physical on February 6th and everything was just fine. And then the cough brought us back to this scary news just 11 days later.

Lola desperately needs these tests and I am heartbroken that I cannot provide them for her right now without asking for help. I greatly appreciate any contribution that can be made, no matter how small. Every little bit helps.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Please share so this can reach as many people as possible-- this is my baby and I want her life to be as long and healthy as possible.