Help Support Lucaa's Urgent Veterinary Medical Care

Full Story:

Lucaa is my emotional support companion that has been with me since 2011. He has been a relatively healthy and happy boy but recently, he has been in and out of the hospital. These past couple months have been taxing on him and my family who have been helping with around-the-clock care. I have spent $15,000+ so far on his medical bills and I worry that I will no longer be able to support him on my own as a full-time student with no current income.

At the beginning of November, he was being treated by an opthalmologist for a severe melting ulcer in his left eye. After many weeks of hourly eye drops and multiple rechecks, the ulcer was finally healed but his vision was slightly impaired from the scar tissue. At this time, we also discovered that he has keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), also known as dry eye, in both eyes and may be on eye medications for life.

At the end of November, shortly after his left eye was deemed healed and the cone of shame can be removed, his right eye suddenly ruptured. We were prepared to go ahead with an emergency enucleation (eye removal) but after completing his pre-operative blood work we found out he was severely anemic and needed to postpone.

Due to the pain medications he was on for his eye, we suspected he had a bleeding gastrointestinal ulcer resulting in the anemia. The blood loss was faster than his body could regenerate, leading to an emergency blood transfusion on Monday, December 13th. This allowed him to feel like himself again for several days.

Unfortunately, he continues to have melena (blood in stool) and has gotten weaker. The next steps would be to do advanced imaging to find the source of the bleed and to fix it. It is December 18th and we are back at the emergency hospital.

Lucaa has a good prognosis and with financial support, we can continue his medical care and help him get better soon. The goal is to address the anemia and bleed (quoted $10k+) and perform the enucleation (quoted $4k) once he is stable.

Any support would be appreciated during this difficult time. Updates will be provided as we proceed if that is feasible for us.

Thank you for your kindness.

- J and Lucaa

Update December 18th 2024:

Lucaa is currently in ICU with a nasogastric tube for stomach decompression. We are worried he is experiencing gastrointestinal stasis from everything going on.

After completing another ultrasound with the specialist, the area where the stomach empties into the small intestines was thickened and an endoscopy (quoted $3.5k) was recommended to confirm if it is inflammation, an ulcer, or neoplasia (cancer).

At this time, we are unable to proceed with the procedure so we are continuing medical management presuming it is the ulcer with the hopes he will start healing and feeling better soon!

Update December 19th 2024:

Lucaa is now home with his family where he will continue to get around-the-clock care consisting of at least 10 different medications every 4-12 hours and a lot of love. Thank you for all the support this far.

Update December 20th 2024:

Unfortunately Lucaa continues to rapidly decline and his blood is more anemic than it was before the blood transfusion. Due to the acute onset and lack of response to medical treatment, we suspect this is more than just an ulcer and potentially a bleeding mass (cancer).

My family and I are making the difficult decision to say goodbye to him tomorrow and help relieve the pain and suffering. It is one last thing we can do for him.

Thank you again for all the support. We are devastated that we cannot make him better, but we know he lived a long happy life.

Any future donations will be used towards paying off his previous medical bills and covering his aftercare. Our family is grateful to have some of this weight off our shoulders. Thank you.

If you would like to donate directly and avoid additional fees, we accept etransfers to jeanniekheng (@hot mail . com) Please indicate in the message box that this is a donation for Lucaa.