Hello there,

I'm going to start from the beginning of events that led me to here. Back in late January, I noticed an unusual dark look in Tobias's urine and with further inspection realized he was peeing blood. So that night, on January 19th, I took him in for an ER vet visit where at the time they determined there was indeed blood in his urine but could only make speculations on the cause. So we decided to try a few options: antibiotics for infections, changed his food to a prescription for crystals. When he went back for a urine analysis and culture, it was determined he still had an infection and it was E. coli. So they gave him a longer/stronger dose of the same antibiotics. This would become the trend up until a few weeks ago. Tobi went through four cycles of antibiotics (I'll list below) and FINALLY after the fourth cycle it seemed the infection was gone, but just a few days later I noticed a very strong and concerning smell in his urine. So to be extra safe, we once again took him back in for a UA/culture that was on Saturday, April 5th. SURE ENOUGH he still has an infection - or he got reinfected almost immediately.

We are now being told he needs to be seen by a specialist to further figure out what steps to take next. An ultrasound was done to make sure nothing was causing the infection to linger and it came back clear. Also, on this last visit, blood work was done to check and see if there were any other issues and they seemed okay. Yet for some reason, this infection persists.

Since January, the cost for these visits/tests/medications has been $3642 - thankfully with insurance it's only cost out of pocket $1693. But with having to go to a specialist now and not sure what's going to come, it's brought me here as while the financial toll is worth it for his well-being, money can't come out of nowhere. Tobi is older, I know this, and I just want him comfortable and not having to deal with this. He needs to be seen by a specialist to see what is going on and why this infection doesn't seem to want to go away!

The antibiotics he's taken so far are:

Jan 19th - Amoxicillin 400mg

Feb 4th - Amoxicillin but stronger

Feb 21st - Cephalexin

March 11th - Enrofloxacin

and starting today (by the time this is posted) they want to give him more Enrofloxacin.

I'm not sure what the fees and procedures will look like yet with the specialist as the vet is finding one. Even just a share would mean the world right now!