Help Us Save Hobbes

We don't usually ask for help, but this is different--we are fighting for the life of our new puppy, Hobbes. After months of planning, preparation, and searching for a new puppy, we brought little Hobbes home. Not 24 hrs later, this super sweet and snuggly 8 week old fuzz ball had to be rushed to the emergency veterinary center in Bozeman. The diagnosis was parvovirus. This is just about the worst diagnosis a puppy--and his family--can get. It's devastating on so many levels. Anyone who has dreamed of and anticipated the arrival of their new canine family member, or had a girl or boy who so badly wanted a pup as our little George does, understands the impact to those hopes and dreams when the puppy becomes deathly ill.  Aside from the emotional toll, surviving Parvo requires aggressive 24-hour veterinary care at an exorbitant expense that most families--including ours--are unprepared for.


Hobbes is currently receiving excellent care at 360 Pet Medical and Pet Emergency Trauma Services (PETS) in Bozeman. Our plan all along has been to get him early emergency care and then continue 24 hour care (in the newly developed Bumann ICU) at home until he fully recovers. However, if Hobbes is going to see the light of a new year, much less have a chance to still be with us at Christmas, he needs at least one more day in the hospital to stabilize and get some nutrition into his little body. One of the side effects of Parvo is nausea, which makes dogs not want to eat. He needs extra care and naso-gastric feeding to make him stronger before we can continue care at home.


Life has hardly begun for our little peanut and already he has been through more than most dogs. If he is able to survive the next few days, Hobbes stands a good chance to have live a full, happy, active life with our family, which is what we want more than anything in the world. Things are still 'touch and go' and our family is pretty emotionally fatigued, but we are committed to helping this wee one to be part of our life. Please consider helping us make a little boy's Christmas shine with the puppy we all had hoped we might have. Young George (aka. our 'Calvin') has already deeply bonded with Hobbes. They even share the same birthdate! 

We have had a couple of unbelievable holiday angels help us get Hobbes through the first couple of days of treatment. Because he is still not eating, we would really like to have him stay one more night at the hospital. The cost is around $1500 each 24 hours  for care, procedures, overnight monitoring, etc (this doesn't include all of the mileage, supply purchases, unforeseen tests and the costs to create a quarantine facility in our home: Parvo is highly infectious and we must keep the rest of the puppies in our community safe, not to mention any future dogs we may have). Hobbes has been in the hospital since Sunday. The veterinarian has treated many Parvo puppies and is "cautiously optimistic." We are planning to bring him home as soon as possible but need him to start eating first, because we are not able to continue tube feeding at home. Your support will help extend the time Hobbes will be in treatment so that this can happen.

Any funds we raise in excess of our Parvo-specific bills will be donated to the angel fund at PETS, to help pay it forward for another family that may need help in the future.  Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.