Hello, my name is Chanah, and I am starting a fundraiser for my sister and her soul dog, Teddy. He is her best friend and one of the most incredible and loyal dogs I've ever met. Not only to her, but our whole family. Anyone who's met Ted can attest that there's a higher intelligence behind his eyes. He's practically human!

 

Ted's Story: In May of 2020, Ted had an infection that required him to go on three rounds of antibiotics. Later in the year, in November, he started showing stiffness in his legs and went to vet after vet after vet. At first, he was misdiagnosed, but after a bit Cara knew something still wasn't right and took him back to the vet. After a few months of being told nothing was wrong with him, and no one being able to say why he was stiff, she found a specialist and took him in. They were the first people able to give answers. They found that the antibiotics had triggered an auto-immune response, and that his own immune system was attacking his knees in both hind legs. He was put on an immunosuppressant in late April, and immediately started improving!

 

His knees recovered and all seemed well! Until a small lump in the gums of his top jaw that we'd noticed in March was obviously getting bigger. At first, we thought it was inflammation, or that maybe he'd grown a bump from chewing on bones and the corners of his bowl all the time. In July, after it had been slowly but steadily getting bigger, a piece of it burst and fell off, and he was left with an uneven lumpy growth. That was when his vet decided just keeping an eye on it was not enough. Next came blood work, a dental x-ray, and finally a biopsy, which received him a diagnosis of a cancerous mass called an Acanthomatous Ameloblastoma, and a recommendation to get him in with an oncologist as soon as possible.

 

Some of our closest family and friends donated enough to cover the downpayment for his initial appointment, and we can not thank them enough!! We will always be grateful that because of them, Ted and Cara went to his first oncologist appointment today, Monday, October 11th. There, the vet took samples from each lymph node, did a complete blood work panel and urinalysis, and took chest x-rays, which reached an appointment total of $1,632. The oncologist recommends a complete mass removal, including his front teeth between his canines (he'll be a little vampire!), and gave an estimate for his surgery to be between $8,000-$10,000. That surgery should also take place in the next 30 days if we don't want to have to do his samples, blood work, and urinalysis again.

 

With this mass removal, we believe it's not just delaying the inevitable by just a year or two, but that he'll have plenty of long, happy years ahead. We can't bear to think about passing up any opportunity to give him the best, longest life possible, as he brings so much joy, unconditional love, and emotional support to our entire family. There's never a time he won't lay outside in the sun with you while you read, or lick the tears from your face when you cry. He's been an inseparable part of our family for the second half of my life, but as I wasn't old enough to really form memories for the first half, I can't remember what our family felt like before he joined our family and changed us all.

 

Any donations, time, or energy spent spreading his story would be so greatly appreciated, from a family who just adores their pets to you. And for everyone who has already donated, I hope you know how much we appreciate that we never had to ask, and that you immediately came together to help our boy. It really proves to us that you all see and love the same soul and conscientiousness that we do in our wonderful, beautiful Teddy Bear.