Help Tagg on His Road to Recovery

I am writing you today to help raise funds for my sweet foster dog Tagg who has just undergone extensive back surgery.

I am sure many of you remember the fun, goofy foster puppy that I fostered for Sit With Me Shelter Dog Rescue for over 2 years.

Being born deaf, Tagg had his challenges cut out for him when he came into rescue but it didn’t stop there, as he grew he needed surgery for his cherry eye and then had a rare condition which required all his teeth (but canines) having to be removed.

Tagg, the happiest dog on earth took all this in stride, healing like a champ and going back to terrorizing our cats, dogs and livingroom with his crazy zoomies.

Three years ago, Tagg hit the jackpot being adopted by our friends Irene, Mike and Kylie, giving Tagg a new dog brother (Johnny) and new cat sister (Vanellope). Such a lucky dog.

Monday, November 29, this little bundle of energy was not his goofy self. He was lethargic and would not eat. Over the course of the day he became hot, was shaking, panting and had rapid breathing. His family took him to the emergency vet at 11:30pm and were told his vitals were normal and to monitor him until the Dr. could see him in the morning. At 4am they woke to a thud and could see Tagg dragging his back legs...his back legs were paralyzed.

Tagg's family took him back to the emergency clinic and based on his condition were told he needed a neurological consult. After ruling out anything viral through blood work, it was recommended they get an MRI to see if there was something wrong with his back.  The family agreed to go ahead with this  (at an expense of $4,600) with the results revealing he had herniated 5 vertebrae and would need immediate surgery with a 50-90% chance of functional recovery.  If they decided to wait the Dr. felt the odds of recovery would be reduced. As he was already under anesthesia the family  only had 10 minutes to decide what to do, knowing that the surgery would cost over $10,000. A very hard decision for any family to make.

They made the decision to go forward with the surgery and after 2 days in hospital, Tagg is back home with his family. He still does not have any feeling in his back end but is in a harness and forging forward with his two good legs.  They will not know until a few weeks as he heals  if his function will return so he has a long road ahead. His family is 100% behind him but this major cost and the cost of rehabilitation is something that is very hard to handle, especially at this time of year.

 

The total vet bill was $10,848.20 (see attached bill).  Tagg is a very special dog to everyone he meets and Irene, Mike and Kylie are a wonderful family.

Thanks so much for your help with this unexpected and journey to help Tagg.

 

Shelley and Craig