Meet Mr. King.

In February of 2018, I rescued King (then Young Man/Kingsley) from a breeder with bad intentions. At five months old, he had spent his entire life living in a crate. I had to teach him how to run, how to climb stairs, and how to just be a dog.

He quickly became a total Mama’s Boy.

Fast forward a few years, and King and I found ourselves getting out of another sticky situation. What I thought was residual trauma from our situation causing him to stop eating quickly turned into what I call The Most Expensive Nosebleed Incident. In November of 2022, I came home to what looked like a murder scene in my apartment. Thus began emergency vet visit number 1.

After lots of panicking and tears and 3 loans, King was officially diagnosed with an advanced case of Valley Fever, which spread to his joints. The nosebleed was caused by the fungal infection in his lungs, he could barely put weight on his front right paw, and he was around 20 pounds underweight.

We started treatment right away, and he responded quickly.

Within six months, King went from almost dying to a healthy weight, lower titers, and even had energy back. He went to the ocean for the first time.

Then he went camping for the first time.

He became my adventure buddy. We nursed each other back to health, both of us healing in our own way. We explored - we traveled together all around California, he went to Nevada and New Mexico and Colorado. He camped in the Redwoods, swam in the Pacific Ocean, made friends and smelled all new flowers (he likes to stop and smell the flowers).

But Valley Fever is not easy to cure. He’s had setbacks.

But he’s also had triumphs! In October, he even went on a hike in the Rockies.

And I truly thought he was on the mend.

On Tuesday night, 1/21, King had a tonic-clonic (or Grand Mal) seizure. I panicked, drove him to the emergency vet, but reluctantly made the call to go home because he was acting totally normal. I made an appointment with his vet for the weekend and hoped it was a one-off situation.

On Wednesday night, I got home from work and he - almost immediately - had another tonic-clonic seizure. Again, totally normal after. Two hours later, he had another one. I made the call to bring him to the ER. He was admitted after having a third seizure while waiting to be seen.

They hospitalized him for 24 hours and he has been seizure free since starting new medication.

Unfortunately, as of now all I can do is give him meds and watch him. Testing for neurological causes or the Valley Fever spreading costs upwards of $4000. His hospitalization alone cost $1800. I am a teacher. I live paycheck to paycheck. But King is my baby - he’s my whole world, the epitome of unconditional love and my reason for waking up on hard days.

This is something that is incredibly hard for me to do - I am stubborn, independent, and hate asking for help. But I need my baby boy to get better. And in order to do that, I need help.

If you’ve gotten to this point in our story, I want to thank you. Even taking the time to read it means the world to us. Any dollar, dime, penny will make a difference in moving forward King’s medical care. Thank you.

❤️ Shae and King