Help Stella Heal: Support for Vet Bills

Hello, my name is Kate Tremont. My husband Will, barber and cancer survivor, and I are retired and semi retired respectively. We are here to ask for your help. We have 2 beautiful hunting dogs; a 4 year old Bracco Italiano named Caius, and a 1 year old Spinone Italiano named Stella. These dogs are our furbabies and working hunting dogs. We live modestly in a quiet suburb near Chicago.

We found ourselves in a frightening situation recently that wound up being a very costly one. My husband is a barber and has a shop in town. He loves taking the dogs to the shop every day so they can act as the shop’s ambassadors and greet clients. On this one day, Stella, the 1 year old, was looking out of the window in the shop and saw a person walking 2 small dogs on the other side of the small town ‘Main Street’. Stella, being young, very strong and having lots of energy, was able to push open the door and bolted across the sidewalk and onto the street where she was immediately met by a moving car. She was hit pretty hard. She sustained a broken leg, contusions to the left side of her body, and a few pretty scary scrapes. We called our vet’s office and they were unable to treat her due to staffing issues and equipment, so they sent us to another facility in our area that did have what was needed. Unfortunately for us and them, they too were up to capacity and could not see Stella either. We were then recommended to a Vetnerary Specialty Clinic that treated her with the utmost compassion, care and attention to every detail as would our own clinic. She was admitted, had numerous xrays, surgery to repair the break on her leg, and 24 hour care and meds for infection and pain. We were relieved when the vet told us that her leg was going to heal well. She also said the contusions weren’t going to cause any long term problems for her. There will be 6-8 weeks of healing with 3 or 4 more visits to follow up with xrays one more time to see how the bones are healing with dressing and splint changes.

However, all of this attention to detail came at a very steep price. I’m not sure if the trauma of our beautiful dog getting hit by a car was as traumatising as the bill. I joke. In total, we wound up paying over $10,000 for our dog to be made whole again, and will still have follow up visits to pay for. We were prepared to have to pay a premium for the services provided, but were shocked to see it was as much as it was.

So I am here looking to raise funds to cover some of the costs that made my dog whole again. I am hoping that you can find it in your heart, and wallet, to help your fellow man in a time of need. Thank you for taking the time to read through this appeal to you. We are much obliged. Thank you. Kate and Will Tremont, Caius and especially, Stella.